Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An Examination of the Associations Among Teacher Secondary Traumatic Stress, Teacher–Student Relationship Quality, and Student Socio-Emotional Functioning

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
School Mental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Teacher emotional wellbeing can exert a strong influence over the ability to effectively perform important aspects of the job, including fostering healthy teacher–student relationships. Our investigation explores one understudied aspect of teacher wellbeing, the presence of secondary traumatic stress (STS). Across helping professions, STS has been associated with a range of emotional and occupational impairments, including difficulty connecting with others (Clunies-Ross et al. in Educ Psychol 28:693–710, 2008). The primary goal of the current study was to determine whether teacher STS influences student socio-emotional functioning through its effects on teacher–student relationship quality. This study was conducted with 150 educators (79% Female, 63% White, 32% Black) and 610 students (59% Female, 91% Black, 1% White) across six urban, public, charter schools in the Gulf South. Results from multi-level structural equation modeling indicated that, as hypothesized, teacher STS symptoms were positively associated with their ratings of students’ socio-emotional difficulties (β = .28, p < .01) such that as teacher symptomology increased, so did the level of student difficulties reported. Contrary to the hypothesis, teacher reports of relationship quality with students were not found to mediate this relationship. Teacher–student relationship quality was negatively associated with their ratings of student socio-emotional difficulties (β = − .30, p < .01). As teacher reports of relationships improved, their ratings of socio-emotional difficulties decreased. These findings highlight the importance of efforts to identify the prevalence and impact of STS among teachers and the associated outcomes for students. Additionally, results can inform efforts to train and support educators as they work to build relationships with students and foster student socio-emotional functioning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alisic, E. (2012). Teachers’ perspectives on providing support to children after trauma: A qualitative study. School Psychology Quarterly, 27(1), 51–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aloe, A. M., Amo, L. C., & Shanahan, M. E. (2014). Classroom management self-efficacy and burnout: A multivariate meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 26, 101–126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-013-9244-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. American Psychiatric Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, A., McCabe, M., & Wideman-Johnston, T. (2014). Mental health issues in schools: Are educators prepared? The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, 9(24), 261–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beer, J., & Beer, J. (1992). Burnout and stress, depression and self-esteem of teachers. Psychological Reports, 61, 1331–1336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bibou-Nakou, I., Stogiannidou, A., & Kiosseoglou, G. (1999). The relation between teacher burnout and teachers’ attributions and practices regarding school behaviour problems. School Psychology International, 20, 209–217.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1998). Children’s interpersonal behaviors and the teacher- child relationship. Developmental Psychology, 34, 934–946.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borntrager, C., Caringi, J. C., van den Pol, R., Crosby, L., O’Connell, K., Trautman, A., & McDonald, M. (2012). Secondary traumatic stress in school personnel. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 5(1), 38–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/1754730X.2012.664862

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brinkworth, M. E., McIntyre, J., Juraschek, A. D., & Gehlbach, H. (2018). Teacher-student relationships: The positives and negatives of assessing both perspectives. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 55, 24–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2017.09.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caringi, J. C., Stanick, C., Trautman, A., Crosby, L., Delvin, M., & Adams, S. (2015). Secondary traumatic stress in public school teachers: Contributing and mitigating factors. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 8(4), 244–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/1754730X.2015.1080123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cieslak, R., Shoji, K., Luszczynska, A., Taylor, S., Rogala, A., & Benight, C. C. (2013). Secondary trauma self-efficacy: Concept and its measurement. Psychological Assessment, 25, 917–928. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032687

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clunies-Ross, P., Little, E., & Kienhuis, M. (2008). Self-reported and actual use of proactive andreactive classroom management strategies and their relationship with teacher stress and student behavior. Educational Psychology, 28, 693–710. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410802206700

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collie, R. J., Shapka, J. D., & Perry, N. E. (2012). School climate and social-emotional learning: Predicting teacher stress, job satisfaction, and teaching efficacy. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104(4), 1189–1204. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, L. M., Schafer, J. L., & Kam, C. (2001). A comparison of inclusive and restrictive strategies in modern missing data procedures. Psychological Methods, 6(4), 330–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, D., & Kellar-Guenther, Y. (2006). Compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction among Colorado child protection workers. Child Abuse & Neglect, 30, 1071–1080.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66(3), 710–722.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dorado, J. S., Martinez, M., McArthur, L. E., & Leibovitz, T. (2016). Healthy environments and response to trauma in schools (HEARTS): A whole-school, multi-level, prevention and intervention program for creating trauma-informed, safe and supportive schools. School Mental Health, 8(1), 163–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fabrigar, L. R., Wegener, D. T., MacCallum, R. C., & Strahan, E. J. (1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4, 272–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Figley, C. R. (1995). Compassion fatigue as secondary traumatic stress disorder: An overview. In C. R. Figley (Ed.), Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized (pp. 1–20). Brunner/Mazel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finkelhor, D., Turner, H., Shattuck, A., Hamby, S., & Kracke, K. (2015). Children’s exposure to violence crime and abuse: An update. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Juvenile Justice Bulletin September, 2015. Retrieved from: https://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/248547.pdf.

  • Gable, S., Reis, H., & Downey, G. (2003). He said, she said: A quasi-signal detection analysis of daily interactions between close relationship partners. Psychological Science, 14(2), 100–105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Galiana, L., Arena, F., Oliver, A., Sanso, N., & Benito, E. (2017). Compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout in Spain and Brazil: ProQOL validation and cross-cultural diagnosis. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 53(3), 598–604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2016.09.014

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geving, A. M. (2007). Identifying the types of student and teacher behaviours associated with teacher stress. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 624–640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.02.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grayson, J. L., & Alvarez, H. K. (2008). School climate factors relating to teacher burnout: A mediator model. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 1349–1363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.06.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2005). Can instructional and emotional support in the first-grade classroom make a difference for children at risk of school failure? Child Development, 76(5), 949–967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hooper, D., Coughlan, J., & Mullen, M. (2008). Structural equation modelling: Guidelines for determining model fit. Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6(1), 53–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hydon, S., Wong, M., Langley, A. K., Stein, B. D., & Kataoka, S. H. (2015). Preventing secondary traumatic stress in educators. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 24(2), 319–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2014.11.003

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings, P., & Greenberg, M. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johns Hopkins Prevention Intervention Research Center. (2006). The first generation of JHU PIRC preventive intervention trials: Methods and measures. Retrieved from 19 Feb 2009 http://www.jhsph.edu/prevention/Data/Cohort_1_and_2/Methods_and_Measures.

  • Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koth, C. W., Bradshaw, C. P., & Leaf, P. J. (2009). Teacher observation of classroom adaptation-checklist: Development and factor structure. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 42, 15–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladd, G. W., Herald-Brown, S. L., & Andrews, R. K. (2009). The Child Behavior Scale (CBS) revisited: A longitudinal evaluation of CBS subscales with children, preadolescents, and adolescents. Psychological Assessment, 21(3), 325–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ladd, G., & Profilet, S. M. (1996). The Child Behavior Scale: A teacher-report measure of young children’s aggressive, withdrawn, and prosocial behaviors. Developmental Psychology, 32, 1008–1024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, W., Veach, P. M., MacFarlane, I. M., & LeRoy, B. S. (2015). Who is at risk for compassion fatigue? An investigation of genetic counselor demographics, anxiety, compassion satisfaction, and burnout. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 24, 358–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levitt, J., Mass, S., Noa, H., Romanelli, L., & Hoagwood, K. (2007). Early identification of mental health problems in schools: The status of instrumentation. Journal of School Psychology, 45, 163–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2006.11.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little, T. D. (2013). Longitudinal structural equation modeling. The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, T. D., & Rhemtulla, M. (2013). Planned missing data designs for developmental researchers. Child Development Perspectives, 7(4), 199–204. https://doi.org/10.11111/cdep.12043

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, L. (2007). The pain of attachment—“you have to put a little wedge in there” how vicarious trauma affects child/teacher attachment. Journal of Childhood Education, 84(2), 85–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2008.10522979

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maslach, C. (1982). Burnout: The cost of caring. Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mclean, D., Eklund, K., Kilgus, S. P., & Burns, M. K. (2019). Influence of teacher burnout and self-efficacy on teacher-related variance in social-emotional and behavioral screening scores. School Psychology, 34(5), 503–511. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000304

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Musa, S., & Hamid, A. (2008). Psychological problems among aid workers operating in Darfur. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 36, 407–416. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2008.36.3.407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2018). Mplus user’s guide (8th ed.). Muthén & Muthén.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell, J. M., & MacNeil, G. A. (2010). Professional burnout, vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue: A review of theoretical terms, risk factors, and preventive methods for clinicians and researchers. Best Practices in Mental Health, 6(2), 57–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oberle, E., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2016). Stress contagion in the classroom? The link between classroom teacher burnout and morning cortisol in elementary school students. Social Science & Medicine, 159, 30–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quin, D. (2017). Longitudinal and contextual associations between teacher-student relationships and student engagement: A systematic review. Review of Educational Research, 87(2), 345–387. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316669434

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raines, T., Dever, B., Kamphaus, R., & Roach, A. (2012). Universal screening for behavioral and emotional risk: A promising method for reducing disproportionate placement in special education. The Journal of Negro Education, 81, 283–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models: Applications and data analysis methods. Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resnick, M. D., Bearman, P. S., Blum, R. M., Bahman, K. E., Harris, K. M., Jones, J., et al. (1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the national longitudinal study on adolescent health. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278, 823–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson-Keilig, R. A. (2014). Secondary traumatic stress and disruptions to interpersonal functioning among mental health therapists. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 29(8), 1477–1496. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260513507135

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Samson, T., Lecovich, E., & Schvartzman, P. (2016). Psychometric characteristics of the hebrew version of the professional quality-of-life scale. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 52(4), 575–581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2016.03.019

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Santiago, C. D., Raviv, T., & Jaycox, L. H. (2018). Creating healing school communities: School-based interventions for students exposed to trauma. American Psychological Association.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Shamblin, S., Graham, D., & Bianco, J. (2016). Creating trauma informed schools for rural Appalachia: The partnerships program for enhancing resiliency, confidence, and workforce development in early childhood education. School Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-016-9181-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slocum-Gori, S., Hemsworth, D., Chan, W. W., Carson, A., & Kazanjian, A. (2013). Understanding compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, and burnout: A survey of the hospice palliative care workforce. Palliative Medicine, 27, 172–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sprang, G., & Craig, C. (2015). An inter-battery exploratory factor analysis of primary and secondary traumatic stress: Determining a best practice approach to assessment. Best Practices in Mental Health, 11(1), 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamm, B. H. (2010). The concise ProQOL manual. ProQOL.org.

    Google Scholar 

  • von der Embse, N., Rutherford, L., Mankin, A., & Jenkins, A. (2019). Demonstration of a trauma-informed assessment to intervention model in a large urban school district. School Mental Health, 11(2), 276–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yoon, J. S. (2002). Teacher characteristics as predictors of teacher-student relationships: Stress, negative affect and self-efficacy. Social Behavior and Personality, 30, 485–494. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2002.30.5.485

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank our school partners for their participation in the SSNOLA project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, USA

    Kathryn Simon

  2. Tulane University, New Orleans, USA

    Lea Petrovic, Courtney Baker & Stacy Overstreet

Authors
  1. Kathryn Simon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lea Petrovic
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Courtney Baker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Stacy Overstreet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathryn Simon.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Simon, K., Petrovic, L., Baker, C. et al. An Examination of the Associations Among Teacher Secondary Traumatic Stress, Teacher–Student Relationship Quality, and Student Socio-Emotional Functioning. School Mental Health 14, 213–224 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09507-4

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09507-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation