Poster #135 - Teacher and Parent Burnout Associations With Preschool Social and Self-Regulatory Development

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Teacher burnout has been linked to adverse child outcomes such as impulsivity, lower cooperation, elevated stress response, and problem behaviors (Friedman-Krauss et al., 2014; Oberle & Schonert-Reichl, 2016; Siekkinen et al., 2013). Parent burnout and its associations to child outcomes has been less researched (Chen et al., 2022), but has been linked to increased parental neglect and violence (Mikolajczak et al., 2019), which may contribute to child internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors (Chen et al., 2022). It may be possible that children experiencing dual risk (having both a burnt-out teacher and parent) are less likely to have favorable outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which teacher burnout was related to children's outcomes of social skills, problem behaviors, and self-regulation at the end of preschool. Additionally, we examined parent burnout as a moderator of this relation. We hypothesized that high teacher burnout will be associated with lower social skills and self-regulation and higher problem behaviors in the spring of preschool. In addition, we expected that parent burnout would moderate the relation between teacher burnout and child outcomes such that, high teacher and parent burnout will be related to lower social skills and self-regulation and higher problem behaviors.

Data came from a state-funded prekindergarten evaluation study. Participants (42% female) were preschool children (N=126) whose ages were 50.99 to 68.80 months old (M=61.66, SD=3.94) in the spring of preschool. Children were either enrolled in a state-funded preschool (N=80) or another community preschool (N=46). All children’s families lived at or below 127% of the federal poverty level.

Children were assessed on a large battery of measures. Social skills and problem behaviors were measured using the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scale (SSIS; Gresham & Elliot, 2008). Behavioral self-regulation was measured using the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS; McClelland et al., 2014). Parent and teacher burnout were assessed using validated questionnaires (Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Roskam, Raes, & Mikolajczak, 2017).

Regression models controlling for age, sex, income, preschool program, and race/ethnicity were run to test our hypotheses. Full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation was used to handle missing data. Teacher burnout was positively related to problem behaviors (ß = .28, SE = .11, p = .01) when including parent burnout in the model. Teacher burnout was not significantly related to social skills and self-regulation. Parent burnout was not related to any outcomes when in the model by itself.

We then included a (teacher x parent burnout) interaction term in our models. We found significant interactions between teacher and parent burnout on social skills (ß=.58, SE=.18, p=.001; Figure 1) and on problem behaviors (ß=-.72, SE =.18, p < .001; Figure 2). As teacher burnout decreased, child social skills increased and problem behaviors decreased, for children whose parents reported low burnout.

The findings of this study suggest that having a teacher as well as a parent with low burnout is important for children’s social-emotional competence. This study elucidates the importance of considering burnout across children’s caregivers in intervention work, caregiver trainings, and future studies.

Authors

• Tracy Zehner, University of Oregon, Eugene
  Presenting Author

• Brianna Devlin, University of Oregon

• Tanya Maria Paes, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Memphis

• Elyssa A Geer, University of Oregon

• Robert Duncan, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• David James Purpura, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Sara Anne Schmitt, University of Oregon