Self-efficacy in classroom management, classroom disturbances, and emotional exhaustion: A moderated mediation analysis of teacher candidates

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

  • Theresa Dicke
  • Herbert W. Marsh
  • Philip D. Parker
  • Mareike Kunter
  • Annett Schmeck
  • Detlev Leutner

While the roles of student misbehavior and teacher self-efficacy in teacher burnout have been investigated, there is still a pressing need to determine the processes involved and the degree to which these generalize across early career teachers. The present research integrates findings on teacher self-efficacy, occupational stressors, and emotional exhaustion. A moderated mediation model is hypothesized where self-efficacy in classroom management predicts emotional exhaustion via classroom disturbances, but the strength of this whole mediation process is moderated by teachers' level of self-efficacy in classroom management. A sample of 1,227 German teacher candidates was used to test this hypothesis in 2 complementary studies. Study 1, based on the whole sample, utilized latent modeling and latent interactions, while Study 2 was based on a random longitudinal subsample of Study 1. The results generally supported our assumptions; the proposed moderated mediation model proved to be statistically significant, even when introducing background covariates into the model to control for pre-existing differences. Thus, self-efficacy in classroom management predicted emotional exhaustion via classroom disturbances only when self-efficacy in classroom management was low. Implications for teacher preservice training, based on the results, are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Educational Psychology
Volume106
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)569-583
Number of pages15
ISSN0022-0663
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 05.2014
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Classroom management, Moderated mediation, Self-efficacy, Teacher stress
  • Psychology

DOI