Teacher–student relationships and early childhood teachers’ well-being in China: the mediating effect of emotion regulation

Early childhood education (ECE) teachers have emotion regulation functions in building positive teacher–student relationship to enhance children development and teaching quality. Currently, there has been a gradual increase in research attention towards exploring teacher–student relationships, teacher well-being and emotion regulation. However, studies in this field in China might still be limited, especially for ECE teachers. Therefore, this study examines associations between teacher–student relationships, teacher well-being, and emotion regulation in Chinese ECE teachers. A cross-sectional study was performed and the data were obtained from 610 ECE teachers in China. All of them completed the Student–Teacher Relationships Scale-Short Form (STRS-SF), Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES), Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS-9), 10-item Version of the Depression Scale (CES‐D‐10), and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). The results indicated that there was a significant relationship between teacher–student relationships and teacher well-being for Chinese ECE teachers. Teachers who maintained positive teacher–student relationships (more closeness and less conflict) tended to have a higher level of self-efficacy and job satisfaction and a lower level of depression. Furthermore, it was found that emotion regulation partially mediated the relationships between teacher–student relationships and teacher well-being. These findings support the significance of teacher–student relationships for ECE teachers’ well-being, and also highlight the important role of teachers’ emotion regulation in building teacher–student relationships and enhancing teacher well-being. In addition, implications and limitations of the results are identified.