Teacher emotion regulation strategies in response to classroom misbehavior

ABSTRACT

This research examined how teachers regulate their emotions in the context of student misbehaviour and what the affective consequence of this regulation is for teachers. In Study 1 we descriptively examined which strategies teachers use to regulate their emotions in response to student misbehaviour and found that teachers use a variety of strategies to regulate their emotions. In Study 2, using an Experience Sampling Method, we examined how teachers’ trait-level emotion regulation impacts their in-the-moment affective experiences and modulation strategies in the context of classroom misbehaviours. Results indicate that teachers who typically reappraise have the least negative affective experiences in the context of student misbehaviour and are less likely to suppress their in-the-moment negative emotions. This study adds to our understanding of how teachers could regulate their negative emotions when dealing with student misbehaviour in an adaptive way. Findings signify the importance of examining the efficacy of other regulation strategies.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotion regulation
• teacher emotion
• experience sampling method

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by American Psychology Association Division 15 Educational Psychology Early Career Research Grant. 

Notes on contributors

Mei-Lin Chang

Mei-Lin Chang is an Associate Professor in Applied Quantitative Research and Educational Analysis at Kennesaw State University. She received her Ph.D. in educational psychology at The Ohio State University and completed her Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Emory University. Her research focus is on social and emotional influences on teacher motivation and student engagement. Her research work has been published in Educational Psychology Review, Motivation and Emotion, Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, and Frontiers in Psychology.

Jamie Taxer

Jamie Taxer received her Ph.D. from the University of Munich. She has been a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Munich and Stanford University. Her research focus is on student and teacher emotions and effective emotion regulation strategies. Her research has been published in Learning and Instruction, The Journal of Experimental Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, and Social Psychology of Education.