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Associations Between Early Childhood Teachers’ Sense of Community and Psychological Wellbeing

Wed, April 7, 10:15 to 11:15am EDT (10:15 to 11:15am EDT), Virtual

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that the psychological wellbeing of teachers in early care and education (ECE) is significantly associated with classroom practices (Jennings, 2015) and child outcomes (Greenberg et al., 2016). Teachers who report positive psychological wellbeing are more supportive of students and create more positive classroom environments (Jennings, 2015; Weaver, 2002). Conversely, high levels of teacher stress or depressive symptoms are associated with high turnover, lower quality classrooms, and lower student achievement (Greenberg et al., 2016; Jennings, 2015). Given the negative impact of poor teacher wellbeing, it is concerning that teachers consistently report high levels of stress (Greenberg et al., 2016; Tovar et al., 2017), depression (Whitaker et al., 2013; Woodward et al., 2017), and anxiety (Stansfeld et al., 2011). To find ways to improve teachers’ psychological wellbeing, we examined one aspect of work environment, sense of community, as a predictor of teachers’ wellbeing. McGinty et al. (2008) found that sense of community is correlated with ECE teachers’ job satisfaction and stress. This could be because teachers who feel supported at work are better able to handle stressful situations that are an inherent part of teaching. Despite evidence that peer support (Corr et al., 2015; McGinty et al., 2008; Swartz et al., 2016) is positively related with teachers’ wellbeing, no studies have investigated how specific aspects of teachers’ sense of community are related to their wellbeing. We hypothesized that higher levels of sense of community (i.e., collegiality and involvement) would be associated with better psychological wellbeing (i.e., self-reported anxiety, depression, personal stress, and secondary traumatic stress).

We collected data from 166 Head Start Teachers in 22 Head Start programs in a mid-Atlantic urban city in the US. Table 1 describes participant characteristics. Teachers completed surveys regarding their work environments and psychological wellbeing. To measure teachers’ sense of community, we used two subscales from the Teacher’s Sense of the School as Community: collegiality (α = .81) and involvement (α = .78) (Battistich et al., 1997; McGinty et al., 2008). Teachers also answered questions about whether they feel anxious, depressive symptoms (CES-D Scale; Radloff et al., 1977), personal stress (Perceived Stress Scale; Cohen et al., 1983), and secondary traumatic stress (Professional Quality of Life; Stamm, 2009).

Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used in Stata 15.0 to investigate associations between teachers’ sense of community and psychological wellbeing while accounting for the nested data structure (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002). We also controlled for teachers’ educational attainment, age, race/ethnicity, teacher type (lead/assistant), and annual salary. As shown in Table 2, teachers’ sense of collegiality and involvement was significantly associated with feeling anxious but not with depressive symptoms. Collegiality was associated with personal stress, and involvement was associated with secondary traumatic stress. Overall, the findings indicate that teachers’ sense of community is related to different aspects of psychological wellbeing, but not with a more intense indicator of wellbeing, depressive symptoms. Interventions aimed at improving peer support, relationships, and sense of community may improve teachers’ psychological health.

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