Early Childhood Research Quarterly ( IF 3.815 ) Pub Date : 2022-08-05 , DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2022.07.001 Cassandra Simons, Brenda Jones Harden, Kerry A. Lee, Christy Tirrell-Corbin
The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological wellbeing of infant-toddler child care teachers in a mid-Atlantic city (n = 160; 69% African American, 98% women) and to explore associations with teaching intentions and quality. Using survey measures and classroom observations, we tested associations between teachers’ adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), depressive symptoms, work-related wellbeing (i.e., perceived organizational functioning and workload), intentions to continue teaching, and teaching quality. We found that infant-toddler teachers experienced similar levels of ACEs to Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers in other studies. However, rates of depressive symptoms were relatively high in this sample (27% scored in the clinical range). Both ACEs and depressive symptoms were associated with teachers' work-related wellbeing. Notably, individual-level ACEs (e.g., household dysfunction and abuse) were associated with depressive symptoms and organizational wellbeing, whereas community ACEs (e.g., neighborhood safety) were not. Organizational wellbeing was significantly and positively associated with the number of years that infant-toddler teachers intended to continue working at their child care centers. Multilevel regression models indicated that community-level ACEs and current depressive symptoms were significantly associated with teachers’ engaged support for toddlers’ learning. When knowledge of child development was added to the model, depressive symptoms were no longer uniquely associated with engaged support for learning. However, community-level ACEs remained a significant correlate. These findings show that infant and toddler teachers may need more resources to support their psychological wellbeing so that they can support children in the classroom.
中文翻译:
婴幼儿教师的早期逆境、当前幸福感和对早期学习的积极支持
本研究的目的是调查大西洋中部城市(n = 160; 69% 的非裔美国人,98% 的女性)并探索与教学意图和质量的关联。使用调查措施和课堂观察,我们测试了教师的不良童年经历(ACE)、抑郁症状、与工作相关的幸福感(即感知的组织功能和工作量)、继续教学的意图和教学质量之间的关联。我们发现,在其他研究中,婴幼儿教师的 ACE 水平与幼儿教育 (ECE) 教师相似。然而,在这个样本中,抑郁症状的发生率相对较高(27% 在临床范围内得分)。ACE 和抑郁症状都与教师的工作幸福感有关。值得注意的是,个人级别的 ACE(例如,家庭功能障碍和虐待)与抑郁症状和组织幸福感相关,而社区 ACE(例如,邻里安全)则没有。组织福祉与幼儿教师打算继续在其托儿中心工作的年限呈显着正相关。多层次回归模型表明,社区层面的 ACE 和当前的抑郁症状与教师对幼儿学习的积极支持显着相关。当将儿童发展的知识添加到模型中时,抑郁症状不再与参与的学习支持唯一相关。然而,社区级别的 ACE 仍然是一个重要的相关性。