Changes in Stress Following Wage Increases for Early Childhood Educators

Area of Science:

• Early Childhood Education
• Occupational Health
• Psychology

Background:

• Early childhood educators play a vital societal role but face low wages and high stress.
• These factors can negatively impact educator well-being, retention, and child development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between natural wage increases and stress levels in early childhood educators.
• To examine the relationship between wage changes, psychological stress, and physiological stress markers.

Main Methods:

• 67 center-based educators of children aged 0-5 years completed surveys on wages and psychological stress (perceived stress, depression, anxiety) at two time points.
• Hair cortisol concentration was measured for 50 educators to assess chronic physiological stress.
• Data were collected over approximately three months during the 2021-2022 academic year.

Main Results:

• Educators received a mean wage increase of $1.85/hour, which reduced wage disparities between minoritized and White educators.
• Psychological and physiological stress levels remained high and were not significantly associated with the wage changes.
• Initial depression levels predicted subsequent physiological stress.

Conclusions:

• Natural wage increases alone did not alleviate the high stress experienced by early childhood educators.
• Eliminating wage inequities and implementing targeted stress reduction strategies are recommended.
• Further research is needed to understand and mitigate chronic stress in this essential workforce.