Open Access

ARTICLE

The Influence of Preschool Teachers’ Social Skills on Job Burnout: A Moderated Mediation Model

Yuanqing He^*, Xinyue Yu, Yu Xia, Yanhua Cao

School of Educational Science, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, China

* Corresponding Author: Yuanqing He. Email:

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2024, 26(6), 463-474. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2024.051909

Received 18 March 2024; Accepted 29 May 2024; Issue published 28 June 2024

Abstract

Background: Teacher burnout is a serious issue in the field of education, particularly in early childhood education, where teachers face high levels of work stress and emotional labor, leading to emotional exhaustion and job burnout. However, past research has not sufficiently explored the mechanisms of social skills, empathy, and mindfulness in mitigating teacher burnout. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between preschool teachers’ social skills, empathy, and mindfulness with job burnout, in order to provide theoretical basis and practical guidance for reducing teacher burnout. Methods: This research utilized a convenience sampling approach to target preschool teachers for a questionnaire survey. A total of 1109 questionnaires were collected. To ensure the quality of the data, we excluded questionnaires that were not carefully filled out in terms of lie scale questions, those with abnormal demographic variables, and outliers identified based on response time. Ultimately, 901 valid questionnaires were obtained, achieving a valid response rate of 81.2%. Participants’ levels of social skills, empathy, mindfulness, and job burnout were assessed using the Social Skills Scale (SKS), Empathy Scale (Measure of Empathy, ME), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS), and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES), respectively. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS. Results: After controlling for gender, age, teaching experience, educational level, grade taught, and location of the kindergarten, the study found: (1) There is a negative correlation between preschool teachers’ social skills and the level of job burnout (r = −0.238); (2) Empathy has a dual-track effect on job burnout, where cognitive empathy negatively affects job burnout (r = −0.245), while emotional empathy has a positive effect (r = 0.045); (3) Cognitive empathy partially mediates the relationship between social skills and job burnout (β = −0.124); (4) Mindfulness significantly impacts social skills, cognitive empathy, and job burnout (r = 0.278; r = 0.286; r = −0.539), and plays a moderating role in the mediation model (β = 0.003; β = −0.023). Conclusion: These findings provide theoretical support for the development of burnout prevention and intervention strategies targeted at preschool teachers. They also point out new directions for future research and potential intervention targets, suggesting that enhancing preschool teachers’ social skills and cognitive empathy, as well as increasing their mindfulness level, can help them cope with work-related stress and emotional labor, thereby alleviating job burnout.

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