Yingjie Wang’s research while affiliated with Huzhou University and other places

Background The engagement of preschool teachers in their work is pivotal for maintaining teaching quality, ensuring teacher well-being, and fostering children’s development. Despite its significance, there is limited knowledge regarding the daily fluctuations in work engagement and the underlying factors influencing it. This study, guided by the Job Demands-Resources model and Affect Event Theory, utilized an experience sampling methodology to investigate the impact of challenge and hindrance stressors on daily work engagement, as well as the mediating role of affect and the moderating effect of mindfulness. Methods Utilizing an experience sampling method, this study collected data from 220 preschool teachers in Shanghai over five consecutive workdays, conducting surveys once daily. Data analysis was performed using multilevel linear models. Results The results from multilevel regression indicated that: (1) daily challenge stressors were positively related to work engagement, (2) daily hindrance stressors were negatively related to work engagement, (3) daily positive affect mediated the relationship between challenge stressors and work engagement, (4) daily negative affect mediated the relationship between hindrance stressors and work engagement, and (5) daily mindfulness played a crucial moderating role by alleviating the adverse effects of hindrance stressors on daily negative affect. Conclusions This study provides valuable insights into the daily experiences of preschool teachers and the factors that influence their work engagement. Understanding the impact of stressors, affect, and mindfulness on work engagement can inform the development of interventions and strategies to improve teacher well-being and work engagement.

Problem behaviors are prevalent during the preschool stage and have significant adverse effects on children's future social and academic adjustment. Overparenting represents a crucial familial factor influencing young children's problem behaviors, so it is important to investigate the underlying mechanisms through which overparenting impacts the problem behaviors of young children. A total of 430 young children ( Mean age =5.43 years, SD = 1.19) and their parents ( Mean age =35.34 years, SD = 4.58) participated in this study. Parents filled the Overparenting Scale, Parent-Child Attachment Scale, Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation and Child Behavior Questionnaire. The results showed that (1) There was a significant positive correlation between parental overparenting and young children’s problem behaviors; (2) Parent-child attachment played a mediating role between parental overparenting and young children’s problem behavior; (3) Children’s negative affect temperament moderated the latter half path of the mediation model, that is, at high levels of negative affect, overparenting has a stronger effect on children’s problem behaviors through parent-child attachment. The results provided the basis for the intervention to alleviate the young children’s problem behavior from the perspective of parenting and child’s temperament.

The loss of rural kindergarten teachers has become a common social concern in China, which is of great importance to the development of preschool education. This study conducted a survey of 2944 kindergarten teachers in mainland China, to explore the relationship between work–family conflict and turnover intention, the mediating effect of emotional exhaustion, and the moderating effect of professional identity. The study used the work–family conflict questionnaire, the emotional exhaustion scale, the turnover intention questionnaire, and the professional identity questionnaire. The results showed that (1) work–family conflict significantly predicted turnover intention; (2) emotional exhaustion played a mediating role between work–family conflict and turnover intention; and (3) professional identity moderated the latter half path of the mediation model, that is, strong professional identity alleviated the indirect predicting effect of work–family conflict on turnover intention through emotional exhaustion. The results clarified the influencing mechanism of work–family conflict on turnover intention, which could help improve rural preschool teachers’ positive emotions and reducing turnover.

Background Job satisfaction for preschool teachers in rural areas has an important impact on their professional development, physical and mental health, and the development of preschool education. However, few studies have explored the factors that influence rural preschool teachers’ job satisfaction. Purpose This study aims to examine the influence of rural preschool teachers’ work–family conflict on their job satisfaction, and the mediating effect of occupational identity, the moderating effect of social support. Method Participants included 3,065 rural preschool teachers from Zhejiang Province in mainland China. Teachers completed questionnaires on work–family conflict, occupational identity, job satisfaction, and social support. The correlation and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS PROCESS. Results (1) work–family conflict is associated with poorer job satisfaction in preschool teachers; (2) occupational identity mediates the relationship between work–family conflict and job satisfaction; and (3) a high level of social support alleviates the negative influence of work–family conflict on job satisfaction and promotes the positive effect of occupational identity on job satisfaction. Conclusion The study revealed the negative impact of work–family conflict on preschool teachers’ job satisfaction, and the protecting effect of social support, which has important implications for improving teachers’ future job satisfaction.

The aim of present study was to explore the possible mediating roles of parenting stress and authoritative parenting style in the relations between maternal mindfulness and children’s social skills among Chinese preschool children. Participants were N = 294 mothers (Mage =34.14 years; SD = 3.79; Range = 25–48 years) and 24 preschool teachers. Upon obtaining consent, mothers completed self-report measures of their dispositional mindfulness, parenting stress and authoritative parenting style. Teachers evaluated each child’s social skills. Among the results, maternal mindfulness was positively associated with children’s social skills. Moreover, bootstrapping revealed a significant indirect effect of maternal mindfulness on children’s social skills via parenting stress and authoritative parenting style. Specifically, maternal mindfulness was related to a low level of parenting stress, which in turn, predicted more authoritative parenting style, and lower level of children’s social skills. This study sheds light on the role of parenting stress and authoritative parenting style in the relationship between maternal mindfulness and children’s social skills.

Negative affect is an important temperament in children, influencing their social skills. However, the evidence for this association in preschool children is limited. Moreover, the underlying mechanisms that explain the relationship between preschool children’s negative affect and social skills remain less understood. Thus, the primary goal of this study was to examine the moderating role of the teacher–child relationship in the associations between negative affect and social skills of Chinese preschoolers. A sample of 198 preschool children (Mage = 58.64 ± 3.83 months, 53% boys), recruited from 13 classes in two public kindergartens in Shanghai, China, participated in this 1-year longitudinal study. The mothers reported children’s negative affect, while the teachers reported children’s social skills and the teacher–child relationship. Results of a series of moderating effect analyses showed that (1) T1 negative affect could significantly negatively predict T2 social skills (cooperation, self-control, and assertion), and (2) the associations between negative affect and social skills were moderated by the teacher–child relationship (including teacher–child closeness and conflict). Specifically, a high level of teacher–child closeness buffered the prediction of negative affect on social skills, while a high level of teacher–child conflict aggravated the said prediction. The findings highlight the importance of the teacher–child relationship in the development of children’s social skills during preschool age when they have a high level of negative affect. This has important implications for the development of interventions to improve teacher–child relationships and children’s social skills.

Preschool teachers’ job burnout has many adverse effects on their career development; although some studies have examined the influencing factors of teachers’ burnout, less were explored from the perspective of individual factors. This study aimed to examine the relationship between mindfulness and job burnout of preschool teachers, and the mediating effects of emotional intelligence and coping style. A total of 394 preschool teachers in China filled in questionnaires measuring mindfulness, emotional intelligence, coping style, and job burnout. The findings suggested that: (1) mindfulness was negatively related to job burnout; (2) emotional intelligence and negative coping style played independent mediating effects between mindfulness and job burnout; and (3) emotional intelligence and positive coping style played a chain mediating effect between mindfulness and job burnout. The results revealed the mechanism of mindfulness on preschool teachers’ job burnout, which is of great significance for the psychological intervention of preschool teachers in the future.