Abstract
The current study examined associations among teachers’ financial well-being, including teachers’ wages and their perceptions of their ability to pay for basic expenses, and teachers’ work time supports, including teachers’ paid planning time, vacation days, and sick days, and children’s positive emotional expressions and behaviors in preschool classrooms. Analyses controlled for teachers’ education and experience, as well as classroom quality (as assessed by the CLASS). Results suggest that teachers’ financial well-being is associated with children’s positive emotional expressions and behaviors in classrooms. Specifically, teachers’ wages positively relate to children’s positive emotional expressions and behaviors in classrooms, and children in classrooms of teachers who can pay for their basic expenses exhibit more positive emotional expressions and behaviors than children in classrooms of teachers who cannot pay for their basic expenses. Implications of the effects of early childhood teachers’ financial well-being on children’s emotional experiences in classrooms are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brophy-Herb, H. E., Lee, R. E., Nievar, M. A., & Stollak, G. (2007). Preschoolers’ social competence: Relations to family characteristics, teacher behaviors, and classroom climate. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 28, 134–148.
Burchinal, M. R., Cryer, D., Clifford, R. M., & Howes, C. (2002). Caregiver training and classroom quality in child care centers. Applied Developmental Science, 6, 2–11.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (2013). Estimating the size and components of the U.S. child care workforce and caregiving population. Center for the Child Care Workforce. May 2002. Retrieved from http://www.ccw.org/pubs/workforceestimatereport.pdf.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014). Occupational outlook handbook. Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/kindergarten-and-elementary-school-teachers.htm.
Cassidy, D. J. (unpublished). Contentedness and Comfort of Children in Child Care Scale (C5). Unpublished coding system.
Cassidy, D. J. (unpublished). Teacher Satisfaction Inventory (TSI). Unpublished coding system.
Cassidy, D. J., Lower, J. K., Kintner, V. L., Hegde, A., & Shim, J. (2011). The day to day reality of teacher turnover in preschool classrooms: An analysis of classroom context and teacher, director, and parent perspectives. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25, 1–23.
Clotfelter, C. T., Ladd, H. F., & Vigdor, J. L. (2007). Are teacher absences worth worrying about in the U.S.? The National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from http://www.nber.org/papers/w13648
Denham, S. A. (2005). The emotional basis of learning and development in early childhood education. In B. Spodek (Ed.), Handbook of research in early childhood education (pp. 85–103). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Etzion, D. (2003). Annual vacation: Duration of relief from job stressors and burnout. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 16, 213–226.
Fritz, C., & Sonnentag, S. (2006). Recovery, well-being, and performance-related outcomes: The role of workload and vacation experiences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 4, 936–945.
Ghazvini, A., & Mullis, R. L. (2002). Center-based care for young children: Examining predictors of quality. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 163, 112–125.
Graham, J. W., Olchowski, A. E., & Gilreath, T. D. (2007). How many imputations are really needed? Some practical clarifications of multiple imputation theory. Prevention Science, 8, 206–213.
Grining, C. L., Raver, C. C., Champion, K., Sardin, L., Metzger, M., & Jones, S. M. (2010). Understanding and improving classroom emotional climate and behavior management in the “real world”: The role of Head Start teachers’ psychosocial stressors. Early Education and Development, 21, 65–94. doi:10.1080/10409280902783509.
Grisham-Brown, J., & Pretti-Frontczak, K. (2003). Using planning time to individualize instruction for preschoolers with special needs. Journal of Early Intervention, 26, 31–46.
Guarino, C. M., Santibañez, L., & Daley, G. A. (2006). Teacher recruitment and retention: A review of the recent empirical literature. Review of Educational Research, 76, 173–208.
Hahs-Vaughn, D. L., & Scherff, L. (2008). Beginning English teacher attrition, mobility, and retention. The Journal of Experimental Education, 77, 21–53.
Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2001). Early teacher–child relationships and the trajectory of children’s school outcomes through eighth grade. Child Development, 72, 625–638. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00301.
Hestenes, L. L., Kontos, S., & Bryan, Y. (1993). Children’s emotional expression in child care centers varying in quality. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 8, 295–307.
Lower, J. K., & Cassidy, D. J. (2007). Child care work environments: The relationship with learning environments. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 22, 189–204.
Morris, C. A. S., Denham, S. A., Bassett, H. H., & Curby, T. W. (2013). Relations among teachers’ emotion socialization beliefs and practices and preschoolers’ emotional competence. Early Education and Development, 24, 979–999.
Mutton, T., Hagger, H., & Burn, K. (2011). Learning to plan, planning to learn: The developing exercise of beginning teachers. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 17, 399–416.
Nemirovsky, R., Rosebery, A. S., Solomon, J., & Warren, B. (2005). Everyday matters in science and mathematics: Studies of complex classroom events. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Pakarinen, E., Kiuru, N., Lerkkanen, M., Poikkeus, A., Siekkinen, M., & Nurmi, J. (2010). Classroom organization and teacher stress predict learning motivation in kindergarten children. European Journal of Psychology Education, 25, 281–300.
Pianta, R. C. (1999). Enhancing relationships between children and teachers. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Pianta, R. C., La Paro, K. M., & Hamre, B. K. (2008). Classroom Assessment Scoring System Manual, Pre-K. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks Publishing.
Shakrani, S. (2008). Teacher turnover. Education Policy Center, Michigan State University. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED502130.pdfs
Steinglass, P. (1987). A systems view of family interaction and psychopathology. In T. Jacob (Ed.), Family interaction and psychopathology: Theories, methods, and findings (pp. 25–65). NY: Plenum.
Swaim, M. S., & Swaim, S. C. (1999). Teacher time (or, rather, the lack of it). American Educator, 23, 20–26.
Talan, T. N., & Bloom, P. J. (2004). Program administration scale: Measuring early childhood leadership and management. New York: Teachers College Press.
Torquati, J. C., Raikes, H., & Huddleston-Casas, C. A. (2007). Teacher education, motivation, compensation, workplace support, and links to quality of center-based care and teachers’ intention to stay in the early childhood profession. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22, 261–275. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2007.03.004.
Tout, K., Starr, R., Soli, M., Moodie, S., Kirby, G., & Boller, K. (2010). The child care quality rating system (QRS) assessment: Compendium of quality rating systems and evaluations. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/resource/compendium-of-quality-rating-systems-and-evaluations.
White, J. M., & Klein, D. M. (2002). Family theories. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Whitebook, M. (2013). Preschool teaching at a crossroads. Employment Research, 20(3), 4–6. Retrieved from http://research.upjohn.org/empl_research/vol20/iss3/2
Whitebook, M., Howes, C., & Phillips, D. (1998). Worthy work, unlivable wages: The national child care staffing study 1988–1997. Washington, DC: Center for the Child Care Workforce.
Whitebook, M., Phillips, D., & Howes, C. (1989). Who cares? Child care teachers and the quality of care in America: Final report, national child care staffing study. Oakland, CA, US: Child Care Employee Project.
Whitebook, M., & Ryan, S. (2011). Degrees in context: Asking the right questions about preparing skilled and effective teachers of young children. Preschool Policy Brief, Issue 22. National Institute for Early Education Research, New Brunswick, NJ, USA: Rutgers University.
Whitebook, M., & Sakai, L. (2003). Turnover begets turnover: an examination of job and occupational instability among child care center staff. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 18, 273–293.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
King, E.K., Johnson, A.V., Cassidy, D.J. et al. Preschool Teachers’ Financial Well-Being and Work Time Supports: Associations with Children’s Emotional Expressions and Behaviors in Classrooms. Early Childhood Educ J 44, 545–553 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-015-0744-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-015-0744-z