Problem-Focused Coping and Teacher Emotional Violence: A Serial Mediation Analysis

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Sociology of Education

Background:

• Teacher emotional violence negatively impacts child development, yet it is often overlooked.
• Understanding teacher characteristics is crucial for addressing high prevalence rates of emotional violence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between problem-focused coping and teacher emotional violence.
• To examine the mediating roles of teacher stress, burnout, and attitudes toward emotional violence.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 205 secondary school teachers in İzmir, Turkey.
• Data collected via questionnaires assessing emotional violence, attitudes, stress, burnout, and coping strategies.
• A serial mediation model was employed to analyze the data.

Main Results:

• Problem-focused coping was not directly associated with teacher emotional violence.
• Teacher stress and burnout significantly mediated the relationship between problem-focused coping and emotional violence.
• Favorable attitudes toward emotional violence did not mediate this relationship directly, but were part of a significant indirect pathway.

Conclusions:

• Teacher stress and burnout play a critical role in the manifestation of teacher emotional violence.
• Interventions targeting teacher stress and burnout may help prevent emotional violence in schools.
• Teacher characteristics are significant factors in strategies to prevent teacher emotional violence.