Exploring Teachers’ Depressive Symptoms, Interaction Quality, and Children’s Social-Emotional Development in Head Start

ABSTRACT

Research Findings: This study explored the role Head Start teachers’ (n = 355) depressive symptoms play in their interactions with children and in children’s (n = 2,203) social-emotional development, specifically changes in children’s problem behaviors and social skills as reported by parents and teachers during the preschool year. Results of the multilevel path analyses revealed that children in classrooms with more depressed teachers made significantly fewer gains in social-emotional skills as reported by both teachers and parents. We found no evidence of mediation by the quality of teacher–child interactions. Practice or Policy: These findings have implications for understanding and supporting Head Start teachers’ mental health and potentially improving children’s social-emotional outcomes.

Funding

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305B090002 to the University of Virginia. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education.

Notes

¹ Noting the positive skew of teacher-reported problem behaviors, we performed a square root transformation and reran the analyses. However, the results did not change. Therefore, estimates from the original models are reported.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305B090002 to the University of Virginia. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the U.S. Department of Education.