An Exploratory Study of Early Childhood Teachers’ Self-Regulatory Well-Being and Support of Children’s Self-Regulatory Development

Abstract

A path analysis of 92 preservice early childhood (EC) teachers’ psychosocial characteristics and how these related to their emotion self-regulation and self-reported practices for children’s self-regulatory development had significant positive results. EC teachers’ intrapersonal mindfulness, strongly, and their compassion for self and others, moderately, predicted their emotion self-regulation, which, in turn, moderately predicted their developmentally adaptive support of children’s self-regulation. EC teachers’ emotional self-regulatory well-being also strongly predicted their psychological and self-determinative well-being, and the latter strongly mediated their support of children’s self-regulation. EC teachers’ self-compassion strongly correlated with their intrapersonal mindfulness, particularly between the respective components of self-kindness and mindful-nonreactivity. Self-compassion also strongly to moderately predicted psychological and self-determinative well-being, respectively. Other significant results were that EC teachers who had more secure attachment also had more psychological well-being, self-determinative well-being, and self-compassion, especially. They also had more compassion for others, intrapersonal mindfulness, emotional self-regulatory well-being, and supportive practices for children’s self-regulatory growth. Moreover, EC teachers’ self compassion, strongly, and compassion for others, moderately, positively predicted the secure dimension of their attachment style, and negatively predicted their fearful and preoccupied dimensions. Given that compassion for self and others may be more actionable and, hence, malleable than attachment style, supporting the former not only as personal but pedagogical skills may benefit attachment, as well as emotion self-regulation and support for child self-regulation. The most consistent finding was the positive relationship of self-compassion to intrapersonal mindfulness and other psychosocial characteristics. Intentional kindness and empathy towards oneself and others mattered for self-regulatory well-being and support of children’s self-regulatory development. Policy implications included a) developing educative systems at all levels that support the whole person and self-regulatory well-being of adults and children, b) deepening whole teacher pedagogy in preservice teacher education and inservice professional learning through relational processes to synergize knowledge, belief, and practice systems, and c) normalizing self-care as integral to the helping professions, not only to prevent compassion fatigue but flourish as individuals and caregivers.