How empathy affects preschool teachers' burnout
Yuanqing He1, Xiaowen Li2, Xin Wang1
1School of Educational Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China.
Psychology, Health & Medicine
|February 24, 2025
Summary
Empathy in preschool teachers has a robust, curvilinear link to burnout. High empathy initially increases burnout but later decreases it, influenced by psychological safety and organizational support.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Education
- Occupational Health
Background:
- Preschool teachers face unique stressors impacting their well-being.
- Understanding the complex relationship between empathy and burnout is crucial for this profession.
- Existing research often overlooks the nuanced, non-linear dynamics involved.
Purpose of the Study:
- To robustly examine the empathy-burnout relationship in preschool teachers.
- To investigate the curvilinear nature of this relationship using advanced statistical methods.
- To explore the mediating role of psychological safety and the moderating role of perceived organizational support.
Main Methods:
- Multiverse-style analysis on 2,651 preschool teachers' survey data to confirm relationship robustness.
- Three-wave survey of 324 preschool teachers using Polynomial Regression and Response Surface Analysis.
- Assessment of psychological safety mediation and perceived organizational support moderation within the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework.
Main Results:
- The empathy-burnout link in preschool teachers is confirmed as robust with a substantial effect size.
- A significant curvilinear relationship was found: empathy increases burnout initially, then decreases it.
- Psychological safety linearly mediated the empathy-burnout connection, while perceived organizational support moderated the empathy-psychological safety link.
Conclusions:
- The empathy-burnout relationship is not linear but curvilinear, offering new insights into teacher well-being.
- Psychological safety and perceived organizational support play critical roles in mitigating burnout.
- Findings extend the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory and inform interventions for preschool teacher mental health.
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