유아교사의 대인관계 스트레스가 교사 효능감에 미치는 영향 : 유아교사 행복감의 매개효과를 중심으로

초록

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the early childhood teachers’ interpersonal stress levels and the teacher efficacy with the mediating effect of happiness. A data set drawn from 343 early childhood teachers from kindergartens and child care centers from 4 regions including Seoul, was collected and 250 valid cases were analyzed. Descriptive data analysis, the three-step mediated regression analysis suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986), and Sobel tests were conducted by the authors. The results from this study showed the following. At first, interpersonal stress negatively predicted teacher efficacy whereas the happiness did positively. Second, the happiness of early childhood teachers had a partial mediating effect on the relationships between teachers’ interpersonal stress and teacher efficacy. Third, the impact of interpersonal stress and the mediating effect of happiness on teacher efficacy varied depending on interpersonal stress levels among the participants. In other words, the impact of interpersonal stress on teacher efficacy was much greater among the ECE teachers with higher interpersonal stress levels than their counterparts. Also, happiness had a partial mediating effect in the group with high interpersonal stress and a full mediation effect in the one with low interpersonal stress. These results suggest that the strategies are needed to improve teacher efficacy of the chronic and/or heavy interpersonal stress group by a) directly reducing their interpersonal stress level, and b) enhancing happiness to mediate them.

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