Studies in Educational Evaluation 74 (2022) 101188

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Studies in Educational Evaluation

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Examining the relationships between teachers’ affective states,

self-efficacy, and teacher-child relationships in kindergartens: An
integration of social cognitive theory and positive psychology
Hongbiao Yin a, *, Winnie Wing Yi Tam b, 1, Elaine Lau b, 1
a
Department of Curriculum & Instruction, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong Special Administrative Regions
b
Centre for University and School Partnership, Faculty of Education, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Regions

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study examines the effects of kindergarten teachers’ self-efficacy on their perceived teacher-child re­
Teacher-child relationship lationships, and explores the associations between self-efficacy and two types of positive affective states (i.e.,
Self-efficacy flow experience and psychological well-being) as the antecedents of efficacy beliefs. A sample of 796 kinder­
Flow
garten teachers in Hong Kong participated in this study. The results showed that teachers’ flow experience and
Psychological well-being
Kindergarten teachers
psychological well-being were significantly associated with their perceived positive teacher-child relationships,
and teacher self-efficacy significantly mediated the effects of teachers’ positive affective states on their perceived
teacher-child relationships. The results highlight the significance of integrating social cognitive theory and
positive psychology into the understanding of the relationships between teachers’ positive affective states, self-
efficacy, and teacher-child relationships in early childhood education settings. The implications for theory and
practice are discussed.

1. Introduction high self-efficacy are more likely to establish a closer relationship and
reduce conflict with their students, as they are more confident in their
In the context of early childhood education (ECE), there is broad own capacity to enhance students’ engagement in class, and employ
agreement among researchers that a warm and healthy teacher-child effective strategies in their classroom management (Hajovsky et al.,
relationship is an indicator of effective pedagogical practices and a 2020). However, evidence for the roles of teacher self-efficacy and
prerequisite of desirable child development (O’Connor & McCartney, teacher-student relationships in ECE settings is still sparse.
2007; van der Lans et al., 2020; Zhang & Nurmi, 2012). How to promote Considering the pivotal role of teacher self-efficacy, understanding
the quality of teacher-child relationships has therefore attracted a great the antecedents of efficacy beliefs would contribute to the development
deal of attention from both ECE researchers and practitioners (Driscoll & of a high-quality relationship between ECE teachers and children, which
Pianta, 2010; Sandilos et al., 2018). may have implications for the evaluation of teachers’ professional
According to the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997, 2001), one functioning and the design of effective interventions to improve teacher
of the keys to the building of a successful teacher-child relationship is development. Therefore, the present study aims to address the above­
how strongly teachers believe in their own efforts to forge a good rela­ mentioned gaps in the literature by exploring the effects of ECE teachers’
tionship with children in their classrooms. The belief that people have in affective states on their perceived teacher-child relationships, mediated
their ability to take the necessary actions to achieve their ultimate goal, by their self-efficacy. Following the perspectives of social cognitive
such as establishing a harmonious and effective relationship, is known as theory and positive psychology, we particularly examined the associa­
self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; De Coninck et al., 2020). Studies have tions between two types of teachers’ positive affective states, namely
observed a positive correlation between teachers’ self-efficacy and their flow experience and psychological well-being, as the antecedents of
perceived relationship with students in school settings. Teachers with efficacy beliefs, and their perceived harmonious relationships with the

* Correspondence to: Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong Special
Administrative Regions.
E-mail addresses: yinhb@cuhk.edu.hk (H. Yin), winnietam@cuhk.edu.hk (W.W.Y. Tam), elaine@cuhk.edu.hk (E. Lau).
1
Centre for University and School Partnership, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2022.101188
Received 27 April 2021; Received in revised form 1 December 2021; Accepted 15 July 2022
Available online 21 July 2022
0191-491X/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Yin et al. Studies in Educational Evaluation 74 (2022) 101188

children in their classrooms. (Tschannen-Moran & Johnson, 2011). Teachers’ beliefs in their own
ability are raised when they witness how their teaching improves the
2. Literature review academic performance of their students. Their mastery experience not
only raises their self-efficacy beliefs but also their level of motivation.
2.1. The importance of the teacher-child relationship in ECE settings Due to the enhanced level of motivation, teachers are then more willing
to exert greater effort in their teaching. Repeated failures, in contrast,
Ample research evidence has demonstrated that high quality result in teachers’ decreased motivation and resilience (Tschannen-­
teacher-child relationships are important determinants of children’s Moran et al., 1998). Various forms of professional development pro­
academic, social, and behavioral development. For children’s academic grams have been developed to provide opportunities for teachers to
development, positive associations were found between the quality of obtain direct or vicarious mastery experiences which benefit the
teacher–child relationships from preschool through third grade and enhancement of teacher self-efficacy (e.g., Ciyer et al., 2010; Noben
children’s third-grade achievement. It has been found that high quality et al., 2021). Tschannen-Moran and McMaster (2009) further demon­
teacher–child relationships buffered children from the negative effects strated that an effective way to enhance teacher self-efficacy in the form
of insecure or other maternal attachment on achievement, and the effect of mastery experiences is to employ an authentic task-specific teaching
of the quality of teacher–child relationships on achievement was experience paired with personalized verbal persuasion and feedback in
mediated through child and teacher behaviors in the classroom subsequent coaching sessions. Research further highlights the cyclical
(O’Connor & McCartney, 2007). Relationship negativity in kinder­ nature of mastery experiences and teacher efficacy (Tschannen-Moran
garten, marked by conflict and dependency, was found to be related to et al., 1998).
academic and behavioral outcomes through eighth grade, especially for A teacher’s level of emotional arousal also has a notable influence on
children with high levels of behavioral problems in kindergarten, and their sense of self-efficacy. Teachers need to mobilize their psychological
for boys (Hamre & Pianta, 2001). For children’s social development, a resources to deal with the environmental constraints and challenges of
three-wave longitudinal study revealed that high closeness and low their work. With a desirable level of emotional arousal, teachers would
conflict in teacher-child relationships at three months after preschool sensitively perceive the challenges in the environment and take timely
entry predicted children’s social competence in school at the end of the action to respond, which may strengthen the belief in themselves as
first preschool year; teacher-child closeness at three months after pre­ being more capable (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001; Tschannen-Moran
school entry also predicted social competence at home at the end of the et al., 1998). However, compared to other sources of teacher
second preschool year (Zhang & Nurmi, 2012). For children’s behavioral self-efficacy, teachers’ emotional arousal, indicated by their physiolog­
development, results of empirical studies showed that a positive ical and affective states, is the source which has received the least
teacher-child relationship was significantly related to an increase in attention from researchers in the field (Morris et al., 2017; Yin et al.,
children’s school-adjustment behaviors (Nur et al., 2018). Children 2020).
experiencing behavioral or learning problems showed poorer school
outcomes and were less able to benefit from a close teacher relationship 2.3. The need for integrating social cognitive theory and positive
when compared to peers without such problems (Baker, 2006). psychology
Some interventions or teacher development programs have been
developed to promote supportive teacher-child relationships (Ciyer Affect, emotion, and mood are the terms that people commonly, and
et al., 2010; Driscoll & Pianta, 2010; Sandilos et al., 2018). Meanwhile, often interchangeably, use to describe the psychological processes in the
researchers have also examined the associations between teacher- or affective domain. Affect is the superordinate category; emotion and
child-related factors and the quality of teacher-child relationships mood are states belonging to this category, but differ in their duration
(Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Rudasill, 2011). A positive correlation has been and in whether they are directed at a specific cause (Niven, 2013).
reported between teacher-child relationships and teachers’ self-efficacy Following Bandura (1997), this study adopts the term “affective states”
beliefs (Hajovsky et al., 2020). as an over-arching concept to name psychological processes in the af­
fective domain.
2.2. Teacher self-efficacy and its sources Affective states refer to the underlying complex emotional experi­
ences people encounter and experience during long-term events (Har­
Teacher self-efficacy refers to the beliefs that teachers have in their mon-Jones, Gable, & Price, 2012). According to the circumplex model of
own ability to handle the responsibility and challenges of their profes­ affect (Russell, 1980; Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), affective states can be
sion (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). The concept of self-efficacy de­ understood in the bi-dimensional matrix consisting of a hedonic tone
rives from the social cognitive theory which proposed that efficacy dimension and an intensity dimension. The hedonic tone dimension
beliefs play a central role in human motivation, thought, and action differentiates the degree of pleasantness/unpleasantness of feelings,
(Bandura, 1997, 2001). Individuals use self-efficacy as a guide to orga­ describing affective states on a continuum from very positive (e.g.,
nize and execute the courses of their actions to achieve prospective happy) to very negative (e.g., distressed). The intensity dimension fo­
goals. Later theories have operationalized teachers’ self-efficacy as their cuses on the levels of emotional arousal, suggesting that affective states
beliefs in their capabilities to produce desired outcomes with regard to can range from very intense (e.g., angry) to very mild (e.g., peaceful).
instructional strategies, classroom management, and student/child Following the proposal of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997),
engagement (Tschannen-Moran and Hoy, 2001). some researchers have attempted to examine the role of affective states
Bandura (1997) proposed four major sources of self-efficacy: (1) as the sources of teacher efficacy. Most of these studies focus on the
mastery experience that serves as a cognitive basis of capability; (2) effects of negative affective states on teachers’ efficacy beliefs. For
vicarious experience that affects self-efficacy beliefs through referential example, it has been consistently demonstrated that teachers’ percep­
comparisons with others’ attainment; (3) verbal persuasion that in­ tions of stress are negatively associated with their self-efficacy beliefs
volves input or recognition from important others; and (4) physiological (Klassen, 2010; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2017). The stress from organiza­
and affective states that act as somatic indicators relevant to judging tional inadequacy and new technological challenges was negatively
capabilities and vulnerability to dysfunction. Following these sugges­ associated with university teachers’ self-efficacy (Yin et al., 2020). In the
tions, empirical research has provided insights into how teachers’ effi­ context of test-based accountability reform, von der Embse et al. (2016)
cacy beliefs are developed and sustained. found that teacher stress negatively influenced teachers’ efficacy beliefs
For in-service teachers, the more powerful source of efficacy seems to and job satisfaction, and that teacher efficacy significantly mediated the
be the actual teaching accomplishments with students effects of teacher stress on job satisfaction. Past research also repeatedly

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reported the significant associations between teacher burnout and secondary school teachers reported that both personal and organiza­
teacher self-efficacy: the higher the perceived burnout, the lower the tional resources facilitated teachers’ work-related flow, which further
sense of self-efficacy (Friedman, 2003); teacher self-efficacy negatively enhanced their personal and organizational resources (Salanova et al.,
correlated with both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in 2006). Basom and Frase (2004) review indicated that teachers’ flow
teacher burnout (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010). In a recent longitudinal experience when applied to classrooms has the potential to enhance
study, Kim and Burić (2020) found that burnout had a more prominent teachers’ work environments and increase their effectiveness, thereby
role in predicting future levels of teacher self-efficacy than teacher increasing student achievement.
self-efficacy did in predicting future levels of burnout. These findings Psychological well-being is also a key concern of positive psychology
lend credence to Bandura (1997) proposal about the sources of efficacy (Shankland & Rosset, 2017). It is the combination of feeling good and
beliefs, but ignore the roles of positive affective states in eliciting teacher functioning effectively: feeling good incorporates both the intense
self-efficacy. emotions of happiness and contentment, and the relatively mild emo­
Positive psychology advocates that educational and psychology re­ tions such as interest and engagement; functioning effectively involves
searchers focus on the positive aspects of human experience and pay the development of one’s potential and having a sense of purpose
attention to the roles of teachers’ positive psychological attributes in (Huppert, 2009). Compared with flow experience, psychological
teaching and schooling (Seligman et al., 2009; Shankland & Rosset, well-being represents a positive, long lasting, and relatively low arousal
2017). In Shankland and Rosset (2017) words, “teachers and researchers affective state. The research on teachers’ psychological well-being
in positive psychology are natural allies” because “education is about usually emphasizes the importance of teacher commitment, teacher
nurturing strengths, about growth and learning” and “psychological and emotions, and teacher-student interactions. For example, it is reported
social well-being are key concerns for… people working in the field of that teachers’ affective and normative commitment positively predicted
positive psychology” (p. 385). This highlights the need to integrate school teachers’ psychological well-being at work, while continuance
positive psychology and social cognitive theory into the research on commitment was a negative predictor of teacher psychological
teacher self-efficacy. Specifically, when understanding the sources of well-being (McInerney et al., 2015). Following the claim that positive
teacher self-efficacy, researchers should pay more attention to the po­ affect may promote individual or collective well-being and health
tential of positive affective states in facilitating teachers’ efficacy beliefs. (Fredrickson, 2001; Huppert, 2009), the findings of empirical research
This is because, from the perspective of the broaden-and-build theory have demonstrated the beneficial effects of positive affect on university
(Fredrickson, 2001), the experience of positive emotions broadens students’ physical health and psychological well-being (Nath & Prad­
people’s momentary thought-action repertoires, which in turn serves to han, 2012).
build their enduring personal resources including resilience and A growing interest in ECE teacher well-being has been witnessed in
self-efficacy. Moreover, by building these personal resources, “positive recent years (Cumming, 2017). Current reforms in ECE primarily
emotions should enhance people’s subsequent emotional well-being” emphasize accountability, standardized practice, and academic out­
(Fredrickson, 2001, p. 223). comes, which have intensified ECE teachers’ work and have placed
Results of some empirical studies have indicated the necessity to heavy pressure on teacher professional development (Hall-Kenyon et al.,
introduce positive affective states as the sources of teacher self-efficacy. 2014). The changes in ECE teachers’ working conditions have influ­
In a study involving primary school teachers in Hong Kong, teacher self- enced their well-being and turnover intentions (Grant et al., 2019).
efficacy was found to be more susceptible to positive affective states (e. Therefore, as Hall-Kenyon et al. (2014) suggested, more research is
g., contentment, enthusiasm) than negative affective states (e.g., anxi­ needed that attends more broadly to ECE teachers’ well-being, including
ety, depression), and enthusiasm had the greatest effect on teacher ef­ their emotional states (e.g., flow experience and job satisfaction),
ficacy (). Following the broaden-and-build theory, Buonomo et al. physical health, and the relations to their self-efficacy. However, there is
(2019) demonstrated that positive emotions toward students may act as still a lack of empirical evidence examining this relationship in ECE
a buffering factor against the detrimental effect of negative emotions on contexts, especially in Hong Kong.
teacher self-efficacy. In addition, a small-scale experimental study re­
ported that the efficacy beliefs had been enhanced for school staff who 2.4. Teacher self-efficacy in ECE contexts
had participated in a positive psychology intervention designed to cause
reflection on “good things,” but not for the school staff who had not As the very first step in children’s education, kindergarten plays an
(Critchley & Gibbs, 2012). Therefore, the present study chose to explore important role in children’s early academic and personal development.
the roles of two typical positive affective states with contrasting levels of The experiences children gain from kindergartens help them to develop
emotional arousal which have been widely discussed in positive psy­ their interest in learning and build up their confidence (Valeski & Stipek,
chology as the sources of ECE teachers’ efficacy beliefs, namely flow 2001). Children see their kindergarten teachers as role models, which
experience and psychological well-being. has a direct impact on the children’s motivation to learn, their person­
Flow experience, along with other positive psychological attributes, ality development, and their academic performance (Oppermann et al.,
comprises the foundation of positive psychology. It is an affective state 2019).
that people report when they are completely involved in some tasks or Teacher self-efficacy has been identified as a vital determinant of
activities to the point of forgetting time, fatigue, and everything else but high-quality instruction in kindergarten classrooms (Guo et al., 2014).
the activity itself (Csikszentmihalyi et al., 2014). The flow experience The significance of teacher self-efficacy for facilitating children’s
usually comprises three elements: enjoyment, referring to the feeling of learning and development, and the implementation of educational in­
ultimate enjoyment or happiness while doing the task; absorption, novations has been frequently examined in previous studies (e.g., ;
referring to a sense of deep involvement or concentration; and intrinsic Gebbie et al., 2012). Moreover, existing studies have also identified a
motivation, referring to performing the task for the pleasure and satis­ number of factors that play an important role in shaping the efficacy
faction inherent in the activity (Bakker, 2008). As a peak experience, beliefs of kindergarten or ECE teachers. For example, teachers with
flow experience denotes a very positive and high-arousal affective state longer teaching experience tend to have a higher sense of self-efficacy
according to the affective events theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). (Bullock et al., 2015), although some studies have observed the con­
Some studies have examined the role of teachers’ flow experiences in trary (Guo et al., 2011). Bullock et al. (2015) reported a correlation
educational settings. It has been reported that job resources including between personality traits and self-efficacy in classroom management.
social support and supervisory coaching contribute to music teachers’ They found that teachers with higher levels of extraversion and open­
experience of flow, and that flow experience may cross over from ness had higher levels of self-efficacy in classroom management. Some
teachers to their students (Bakker, 2005). A longitudinal study on researchers also provided empirical evidence of the positive effects of

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H. Yin et al. Studies in Educational Evaluation 74 (2022) 101188

professional development projects or teacher education programs on psychological well-being (Fredrickson, 2001; Huppert, 2009), the direct
preschool teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching mathematics or reading effect of teachers’ flow experience on their psychological well-being was
(Ciyer et al., 2010; Saçkes et al., 2012). In addition, when teachers are also examined. Fig. 1 shows the conceptual framework of this study
given more supportive organizational conditions, such as working in enlightened by the social cognitive theory and positive psychology.
kindergartens with higher levels of staff collaboration (Guo et al., 2011), Specifically, three questions guided the current study: (1) What is the
trust in colleagues, and instructional leadership (), they would be more effect of kindergarten teachers’ flow experience on their psychological
confident in their competence of facilitating children’s learning and well-being? (2) What are the effects of kindergarten teachers’ flow
development. experience and psychological well-being on their self-efficacy? (3) Does
In the ECE context, researchers seldom consider the role of affective kindergarten teachers’ self-efficacy significantly mediate the associa­
states as the source of teacher self-efficacy, with very few exceptions tions between teachers’ positive affective states and their perceived
(Kim & Kim, 2010; Schagen Johnson et al., 2017). Kim and Kim (2017) relationships with the children? The findings of this study can help
reported that ECE teachers’ depression severity was significantly asso­ enrich the knowledge of applying social cognitive theory and positive
ciated with their self-efficacy to create positive social contexts and to psychology in the ECE context. Moreover, the results can have impli­
influence decision-making. Schagen Johnson (2017) explored the re­ cations for the evaluation of teachers’ professional functioning and the
lationships between pre-service ECE teachers’ perceptions of early design of interventions for improving teacher well-being and teacher-
practicum experiences and their sense of efficacy. They found that child relationships in kindergartens.
feeling energized and relaxed during the practicum was positively
associated with practicum satisfaction and student teachers’ efficacy, 3. Methods
while feelings of frustration were negatively associated with student
teachers’ efficacy. In general, there is an obvious lack of research on this 3.1. Participants
topic in kindergarten settings.
The relationship between self-efficacy and teacher-student relation­ A paper-based questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data
ships has always been explored in terms of the dimension of reducing between May and June 2019. A total of 823 teachers from 40 kinder­
negative outcomes, such as perceived conflict (Hajovsky et al., 2020) gartens in Hong Kong responded to the questionnaire. These kinder­
and stress (Klassen, 2010; Yin et al., 2020), whereas there has been little gartens joined a partnership project to facilitate positive education in
research along the line of positive impacts on teachers, especially in the kindergartens organized by the university where the authors were
ECE context. In this study, we examined the effect of teachers’ affiliated. A total of 78 kindergartens applied to join the partnership
self-efficacy on their perceptions of positive relationships with the project which can only offer 40 places. During the recruitment of these
children. We particularly focused on teachers in kindergartens, as a kindergartens, the project organizer followed the principle of cluster
positive teacher-child relationship has been seen as a key resource for random sampling, and considered the differences in the kindergartens’
young children’s success in school (Rudasill, 2011), and yet there is a geographical location, size of enrollment, and religious background.
notable lack of research on the association between teacher efficacy and Before data collection, ethical approval for the research was granted
teacher-child relationships. by the university’s research ethics committee. Questionnaires were
mailed directly to kindergartens with consent letters and instruction
2.5. The current study sheets. The participants returned the questionnaires using stamped en­
velopes. They responded to the questionnaire voluntarily without
This study was carried out in the context of kindergartens in Hong incentive.
Kong. In Hong Kong, all kindergartens are registered with the Education After deleting 27 questionnaires with insufficient responses, this
Bureau and provide services for children from 3 to 6 years old. In 2017, study obtained a valid sample consisting of 796 teachers. Of the sample,
the Education Bureau initiated the Free Quality Kindergarten Education there were eight (1.01%) male and 787 (98.87%) female teachers, and
Scheme and implemented the Kindergarten Education Curriculum one teacher did not report any gender information. Although this
Guide, requiring kindergartens to design and implement a school-based extremely imbalanced gender distribution reflected the reality of
curriculum that emphasizes whole-child development, child- kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong, it reminded us that comparison of
centeredness, and play-based learning. At the same time, enhancing male and female teachers may be meaningless. In terms of teaching
the quality of teaching and teachers has been the focus of government experience, 469 (58.92%) teachers had no more than 10 years of
policies. Under the Free Quality Kindergarten Education Scheme, the teaching experience, while 321 (40.33%) had more than 10 years. Two
teacher-child ratio was improved from 1:15–1:11 in order to provide teachers did not report their years of teaching experience.
more room for teachers to participate in teacher development activities
such as collective lesson planning and school-based curriculum devel­ 3.2. Measures
opment. Eventually, kindergarten teachers are expected to enhance their
teaching effectiveness, and “establish good relationships with children, A questionnaire consisting of four scales was used to collect data. The
so that children feel respected and accepted” (CDC, 2017, p. 63). These participants were asked to rate each item on a 6-point Likert scale
reform initiative have placed high expectations on kindergarten teach­ ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.”
ers’ professional competency and changed their working conditions,
which may have profoundly influenced their well-being (Grant et al.,
2019).
Inspired by the social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997), we propose
that teachers’ positive affective states may be the source of their
self-efficacy, which plays a mediating role in the relationship between
teachers’ positive affective states and teacher-child relationships.
Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the indirect effects of
teachers’ two positive affective states, namely, flow experience (an
instant and high-arousal affective state) and psychological well-being (a
long-lasting and low-arousal affective state), on teacher-child relation­
ships through their self-efficacy in Hong Kong kindergartens. Moreover, Fig. 1. A conceptual framework enlightened by social cognitive theory and
following the claim that positive affect may promote individuals’ positive psychology, Note: RQ = research question.

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H. Yin et al. Studies in Educational Evaluation 74 (2022) 101188

3.2.1. Teachers’ flow experience (Flow) (FIML) procedure which estimates the model parameters directly from
The 13-item Work-Related Flow Inventory (WOLF) adapted from the available data using an iterative expectation-maximization algo­
Bakker (2008) was used to assess kindergarten teachers’ flow experience rithm (Muthén & Muthén, 2017).
during work. The WOLF is one of the most frequently used instruments For the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and SEM analysis, a
for assessing individuals’ work-related flow experience, and its construct number of indices were used to assess the model fit, including the Chi-
validity has been widely examined and supported in the previous liter­ square statistic (χ2), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), Comparative Fit Index
ature (e.g., Happell et al., 2015). The WOLF assesses teachers’ flow (CFI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA).
experience in three dimensions, namely, work enjoyment (WE, four Following Schreiber et al.’s (2006) recommendations, CFI > 0.90, TLI
items), intrinsic work motivation (IWM, five items), and absorption (AB, > 0.90, and RMSEA and SRMR < 0.08 were used as the cutoffs to
four items). Sample items include “My work as a kindergarten teacher indicate an acceptable data fit. Items with factor loadings larger than.60
gives me a good feeling” (WE); “I find that I also want to work in my free were retained.
time” (IWM); and “When I am teaching the kids, I think about nothing The bootstrap approach was adopted to test the significance of the
else” (AB). In Bakker (2008) multi-sample study, the Cronbach’s alpha possible mediation effects via the two mediators, namely, teacher well-
value of IWM, WE, and AB ranged from.63–0.82,.88–0.96, and.75–0.86, being and self-efficacy. A mediation analysis based on 5000 boot­
respectively. strapping samples was conducted to assess the strength of the mediating
effects. Standardized estimates of indirect effect, with a 95% confidence
3.2.2. Teachers’ psychological well-being (PWB) interval (CI) were reported. An indirect effect is significant if zero is not
The eight-item Psychological Flourishing Scale adapted from Diener located between the lower and upper boundaries of the CI (Hayes,
et al. (2010) was used to assess kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of 2009).
their psychological well-being. Sample items include “I lead a pur­
poseful and meaningful life”; “I am engaged and interested in my daily 4. Results
activities”; and “I actively contribute to the happiness and well-being of
the children in my classroom.” In Diener et al.’s (2010) study, the 4.1. Construct validity, reliability, and descriptive statistics
Cronbach’s alpha value of the scale was.87.
The CFA results showed that three of the four scales used in this study
3.2.3. Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) reached an acceptable model fit. Specifically, the three-item Teacher-
The 12-item Kindergarten Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale validated by Child Relationship Scale was a saturated model. For the Psychological
Keung et al., 2020 was used to assess kindergarten teachers’ self-efficacy Flourishing Scale, the goodness of fit indices were χ2 = 115.22, df = 20,
in terms of three aspects, namely, instructional strategy (IS), classroom p < .001, CFI = 0.94, TLI = 0.91, and RMSEA = 0.077. It is noted that
management (CM), and child engagement (CE). Sample items include “I the RMSEA value was close to the cut-off of.08, indicating that this index
can use a variety of assessment strategies for children” (IS); “I can get was marginally acceptable. For the Kindergarten Teacher Self-Efficacy
children to follow classroom rules” (CM); and “I can motivate children Scale, the goodness of fit indices of the second-order factor model
who show low interest in play-based learning activities” (CE). Keung were χ2 = 100.72, df = 51, p < .01, CFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.98, and RMSEA
et al. (2020) adopted the second-order factor structure of teacher = 0.035. For the WOLF, after dropping one item in work enjoyment (i.e.,
self-efficacy due to the high correlations between the three factors, and “I feel cheerful when I am teaching”), the goodness of fit indices of the
the Cronbach’s alpha value of the composite teacher self-efficacy in their second-order factor model were marginally acceptable: χ2 = 313.78, df
study was.89. = 51, p < .001, CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.89, and RMSEA = 0.081.
The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of each factor, the correlation
3.2.4. Teacher-child relationship (TCR) matrix among factors, and the descriptive statistics are shown in Table 1.
A three-item Teacher-Child Relationship Scale was developed by the The results showed that the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of each first-
research team to assess teachers’ perceived positive relationships with order factor was higher than.70, suggesting that the reliability of the
children in the kindergarten. The three items are “I am happy to be with scales is acceptable. The correlation matrix indicated some high corre­
the children in my classroom”; “The children in my classroom are happy lations within the factors of the WOLF and Kindergarten Teacher Self-
to share with me their experiences and feelings”; and “I am glad to get Efficacy Scale. Specifically, within the WOLF, internal work motiva­
along with the children in my classroom.” tion and work engagement had a correlation coefficient of.82; within the
As the WOLF and the Psychological Flourishing Scale were not Kindergarten Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale, all correlation coefficients
originally designed for assessing teachers’ flow experience and psy­ between the three factors were higher than.75. These results supported
chological well-being, slight modifications were made to the wording of the treatment of adopting the second-order factor model of teachers’
the items to make it more suitable for ECE contexts. Before the formal flow experiences and self-efficacy in the present study.
data collection, a pilot study was conducted with nine kindergarten
teachers to clarify any ambiguous meanings and wording. The final 4.2. The effects of flow experience on teacher-child relationships through
version of the questionnaire was reviewed by two experienced pro­ the mediation of psychological well-being and self-efficacy
fessors who were leading or teaching ECE programs for kindergarten
teachers. To address the first two research questions, we conducted SEM
analysis to explore the effects of self-efficacy on teacher-child relation­
3.3. Analysis ships and the effects of flow experience and psychological well-being on
self-efficacy with the sample of 796 kindergarten teachers. Following
This study used SPSS 22.0 and Mplus 8.0 to analyze the data. Before the research purposes of this study, a SEM model was set up to examine
the structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, descriptive statistics the relationship between teachers’ flow experience, psychological well-
and correlation were calculated. Reliability was assessed by Cronbach’s being, self-efficacy, and their perceived positive teacher-child relation­
alpha to test the internal consistency. Taking into account the non- ship. The results of the SEM analysis demonstrated an acceptable model
normality of the data (i.e., item skewness ranged from − 1.21 to fit for the mediation model (χ2 = 1316.02, df = 548, p < .01, CFI =0.93,
− 0.06), SEM analyses were conducted using the maximum likelihood TLI =0.93, RMESA =0.042). The SEM results are presented in Fig. 2.
estimator with robust standard errors (MLR), which is robust to non- As Fig. 2 illustrates, teachers’ flow experience had a positive effect on
normality. The amount of missing data for all items was less than 1%. their psychological well-being (β = 0.68, p < .01), answering the first
Therefore, the study used the full information maximum likelihood research question. Meanwhile, flow (β = 0.41, p < .01) and

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H. Yin et al. Studies in Educational Evaluation 74 (2022) 101188

Table 1
Reliability, descriptive statistics and correlation matrix (N = 796).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1. PWB (0.88)
2. IWM .61 * * (0.79)
3. WE .62 * * .82 * * (0.89)
4. AB .42 * * .65 * * .56 * * (0.80)
5. IS .57 * * .51 * * .54 * * .49 * * (0.82)
6. CM .54 * * .40 * * .46 * * .40 * * .78 * * (0.87)
7. CE .57 * * .57 * * .57 * * .46 * * .86 * * .83 * * (0.81)
8. TCR .42 * * .39 * * .44 * * .32 * * .52 * * .46 * * .55 * * (0.79)
M 4.91 4.47 4.72 4.40 4.86 4.88 4.88 5.38
SD 0.50 0.69 0.68 0.74 0.48 0.50 0.46 0.47

Note: * * p < .01 (two-tailed); Cronbach’s α in parentheses along the diagonal; PWB = psychological well-being, IWM = intrinsic work motivation, WE = work
enjoyment, AB = absorption, IS = self-efficacy for instructional strategies, CM = self-efficacy for classroom management, CE = self-efficacy for child engagement, TCR
= teacher-child relationships.

Fig. 2. The SEM results showing the significant paths (N = 796), Note: * p < .05, * * p < .01; Goodness-of-fit indices: χ 2 = 1316.02, df = 548, p < .001, CFI = 0.93,
TLI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.042; PWB = psychological well-being, IWM = intrinsic work motivation, WE = work enjoyment, AB = absorption, TSE = teacher self-
efficacy, IS = self-efficacy for instructional strategies, CM = self-efficacy for classroom management, CE = self-efficacy for child engagement, TCR = teacher-
child relationships.

psychological well-being (β = 0.34, p < .01) positively predicted from both flow and psychological well-being through teacher self-
teacher self-efficacy, answering the second research question. In addi­ efficacy were significant, indicating that teacher self-efficacy signifi­
tion, teacher self-efficacy was also positively related to teacher-child cantly mediated the effects of kindergarten teachers’ positive affective
relationships (β = 0.44, p < .01). states on perceived teacher-child relationships (i.e., the third research
question). In addition, compared with the direct effect of flow experi­
4.3. Examining the significance of the mediation effects ence on teacher-child relationships (Estimate =0.15(0.07), CI
= [.02,.28]), the total indirect effects via teacher self-efficacy had a
To address the third research question, a bootstrapping test based on bigger effect size (Estimate =0.31(0.05), CI = [.21,.41]), highlighting
5000 samples was conducted to examine the significance of the medi­ the importance of the mediating roles of teacher self-efficacy.
ating effects. The result of the mediation analysis is presented in Table 2. At the same time, this study found that the path from flow experience
As previously mentioned, the mediation effect is significant if zero is not to positive teacher-child relationships via psychological well-being was
located between the lower and upper boundaries of the CI (Hayes, insignificant (Estimate =0.03(0.05), CI = [− 0.07, 0.11]). The stan­
2009). dardized estimate indicated a very weak indirect effect, and the confi­
As shown in the “Specific indirect effect” section of Table 2, the paths dence interval contained zero, further indicating that the indirect effect
via psychological well-being is not significant. These findings indicated
Table 2 that teacher self-efficacy was the only significant mediator in this study,
The analyses of standardized direct, indirect, and total effects of flow on teacher- providing further evidence to address the third research question.
child relationships (N = 796).
Effect via Estimate (SE) 95% CI
5. Discussion

Total effect 0.46 (0.04) [0.38, 0.54]

The current study investigated the relationships between teachers’
Direct effect 0.15 (0.07) [0.02, 0.28]
Total indirect effect 0.31 (0.05) [0.21, 0.41] positive affective states (i.e., flow experience and psychological well-
Specific indirect effect being), self-efficacy, and the perceived positive teacher-child relation­
TSE 0.18 (0.04) [0.11, 0.27] ship in the context of Hong Kong kindergartens. The results of SEM and
PWB 0.03 (0.05) [− 0.07, 0.11] mediation analyses showed that kindergarten teachers’ self-efficacy was
PWB → TSE 0.10 (0.02) [0.06, 0.15]
positively related to their perception of positive relationships with the
Note: 5000 bootstrap samples; TSE = teacher self-efficacy, PWB = psychological children; teachers’ work-related flow experience and psychological
well-being.

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H. Yin et al. Studies in Educational Evaluation 74 (2022) 101188

well-being were positively associated with their self-efficacy, and flow 5.2. The benefits of introducing positive psychology
experience had a positive effect on teachers’ psychological well-being;
teachers’ self-efficacy significantly mediated the beneficial effects of The current study also took a step further in advancing the social
flow experience and psychological well-being on their positive percep­ cognitive theory by introducing the perspective of positive psychology
tions of teacher-child relationships. In general, the results of this study in understanding the sources of efficacy beliefs. Specifically, the study
provide evidence of the indirect associations from kindergarten teach­ examined the roles of teachers’ positive affective states in facilitating
ers’ positive affective states to teacher-student interactions by showing kindergarten teachers’ self-efficacy. Considering the utmost importance
the role of self-efficacy as a significant mediator. These results thus of teacher self-efficacy, researchers have conducted a number of studies
support the significance of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997, to identify the factors inducing teachers’ efficacy beliefs in school
2001) and positive psychology (Seligman et al., 2009; Shankland & (Tschannen-Moran & Johnson, 2011; Tschannen-Moran & McMaster,
Rosset, 2017) in the field of ECE. 2009) or ECE settings (Bullock, Coplan, & Bosacki, 2015; Ciyer, Naga­
sawa, Swadener, & Patet, 2010; Guo, Justice, Sawyer, & Tompkins,
5.1. The significance of social cognitive theory 2011; Saçkes, Flevares, Gonya, & Trundle, 2012). However, these
studies usually focus on the facilitating or impeding effects of mastery
Promoting the quality of teacher-child relationships is a core concern experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion in the form of
for ECE researchers and practitioners (Driscoll & Pianta, 2010; Rudasill, teaching practicums, modeling, teacher development programs, or
2011). Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of some teacher collaboration. With only a few exceptions (e.g., Yin et al., 2020;
teacher development programs in promoting desirable teacher-child Kim & Kim, 2010), the role of physiological and affective states as the
relationships (e.g., Ciyer et al., 2010; Sandilos et al., 2018). However, sources of teacher self-efficacy has largely been ignored in the literature
these studies failed to explain the rationale and mechanisms which make (Morris et al., 2017). In this respect, the present research contributes to
these interventions effective. Meanwhile, although a few studies have the knowledge of the sources of teacher self-efficacy in ECE settings by
shown the positive association between teacher self-efficacy and showing the beneficial effects of teachers’ positive affective states on
teacher-child relationships (e.g., Hajovsky et al., 2020), these studies did their self-efficacy beliefs.
not take the sources of teachers’ efficacy beliefs into consideration. In The results of our study endorse the call for applying positive psy­
this respect, the current study takes a step forward by suggesting teacher chology into teaching and learning contexts (Seligman et al., 2009;
self-efficacy as an effective mediating mechanism in building desirable Shankland & Rosset, 2017). Different from previous studies which
teacher-child relationships, and clarifying the beneficial roles of positive mainly concerned the effects of some negative affective states such as
affective states in eliciting teachers’ efficacy beliefs. stress (Klassen, 2010; Yin et al., 2020), burnout (Kim & Burić, 2020),
From the perspective of social cognitive theory, self-efficacy plays and depression severity (Kim & Kim, 2010), the present research
the pivotal role in human motivation and action (Bandura, 1997, 2012). examined the associations between two positive affective states, namely
Inspired by the social cognitive theory, the current study proposed, work-related flow and psychological well-being, and teacher efficacy.
tested, and provided evidence in support of the argument that teacher Our results indicated that when kindergarten teachers are totally
self-efficacy is a significant mediator in the relations between affective involved in their teaching with the children, and when they are feeling
states and teacher-child relationships. The results of mediation analysis good and functioning well, that is, when they have high levels of psy­
revealed that teacher self-efficacy was the only significant mediator chological well-being (Huppert, 2009), it would provide a boost to their
between teachers’ flow experience, psychological well-being, and efficacy beliefs and further their perceived quality of teacher-child re­
teacher-child relationships. Moreover, the larger indirect effects of flow lationships. On the one hand, echoing the fundamental view of positive
experience via teacher self-efficacy than its direct effect on teacher-child psychology, the results together support the significance of teachers’
relationships suggests that self-efficacy is the primary and pervasive positive affective states in classroom settings (Shankland & Rosset,
mechanism “to exercise some measure of control over their own func­ 2017). On the other hand, the results indicate that teachers’ flow
tioning and over environmental events” (Bandura, 2001, p. 10). experience - an instant and high arousal affective state - may facilitate
In fact, the significance of teacher self-efficacy has been frequently their psychological well-being, a long-lasting and low-arousal affective
demonstrated in ECE settings, but most of the studies mainly concern the state. This is a new addition to the empirical evidence of the relationship
positive roles of teacher self-efficacy in catering for learner diversity between ECE teachers’ positive affective states with different natures
(Gebbie et al., 2012; Guo et al., 2014) and facilitating the imple­ (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996).
mentation of play-based learning (). Instead, the present research pro­
vides empirical evidence supporting the non-negligible role of teacher 5.3. Limitations and directions for future research
self-efficacy in building a positive teacher-child relationship, which
has been seen as a key resource for young children’s success in schools Four limitations of this study should be noted when interpreting the
(Rudasill, 2011). According to the findings of the present study, we tend results of this study. First, during data collection, this study adopted the
to suggest that social cognitive theory is a powerful theoretical method of convenience sampling. All participants of this study were
perspective to understand the relationships between teachers’ affective from the kindergartens that participated in the partnership project to
states and teacher-child relationships in ECE settings. promote positive education in Hong Kong. Those in the kindergartens
For the measurement of teacher-child relationships, it should be that were not or were less willing to join the project were excluded.
noted that this study assessed teachers’ overall perceptions of their re­ Therefore, future research should improve the sampling method in order
lationships with the children in their classrooms, rather than their re­ to obtain representative samples. Second, although the model tested in
lationships with some individual children. In kindergarten classrooms, this study was in general based on Bandura (1997, 2001) social cogni­
there could be very salient differences between individuals in terms of tive theory, the cross-sectional design of this study makes it unable to
physical, language, and social-emotional development (Reed-Victor, claim causal relationships between the variables of interest. There exist
2010). These individual differences may influence the interactions be­ other possible directions among these variables which call for further
tween the teacher and the children. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer investigation of ECE teachers’ self-efficacy and its antecedents and
that the results might be a little different if the study assessed teachers’ consequences in the future. Third, all data examined in this study were
perceptions of the relationship with some specific children. This issue is collected from self-report measures. Although most of the scales used in
worthy of examination in future research. this study were adapted from some well-established instruments such as
the WOLF (Bakker, 2008) and the Psychological Flourishing Scale
(Diener et al., 2010), the results of the study may still be influenced by

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the common-method bias. Therefore, future research is encouraged to descriptions and the provision of support as well as challenges to
use multiple data sources to collect data, such as the observation of teachers. In addition, principals should also make efforts to build a more
parents or children, or objective measurements of teachers’ well-being supportive interpersonal climate among teachers in the kindergarten. As
status. Fourth, this study only examined the effects of flow experi­ shown in previous studies, these beneficial organizational conditions (e.
ences and psychological well-being on teacher self-efficacy when g., supervisory coaching, faculty trust, and social support) not only
selecting the positive affective states. Although they are two typical contribute to teachers’ flow experiences at work (Bakker, 2005; Basom
affective states with contrasting levels of emotional arousal, there are & Frase, 2004), but also have the potential to enhance their self-efficacy
still various types of positive emotions (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996). beliefs (Guo et al., 2011).
More positive affective antecedents of kindergarten teachers’ In short, our study demonstrates the significance of integrating the
self-efficacy (e.g., happiness, joy, relaxation) deserve attention in future perspectives of social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997, 2001) and pos­
research. itive psychology (Seligman et al., 2009; Shankland & Rosset, 2017) to
understand the relationships between teachers’ positive affective states,
6. Implications and conclusion self-efficacy, and teacher-child relationships in the ECE context. The
results of this study indicate that teachers’ flow experience and psy­
Findings of this study shed light on the evaluation of teachers’ pro­ chological well-being elicited stronger self-efficacy beliefs, and that
fessional functioning and the design of interventions for improving kindergarten teachers’ enhanced self-efficacy fostered positive percep­
teacher well-being and teaching effectiveness in ECE settings. First, in tions of their relationships with children, which may ultimately lead to
general, our results provide evidence to support the validity of the the construction of an effective climate for children to learn and grow.
conceptual framework proposed in this study. This conceptual frame­ These findings point out the directions for the improvement of kinder­
work, inspired by social cognitive theory and positive psychology, can garten education for the practitioners. Specifically, kindergarten prin­
serve as a general guide for designing intervention programs which aim cipals should make efforts to create warm and encouraging working
at the improvement of teacher self-efficacy in kindergartens. The results conditions, introduce effective professional development and positive
of this study suggest that principal leadership should focus on the education interventions, improve the job design, and balance the chal­
mobilization and maintenance of teachers’ positive affective states and lenge and support for teachers in kindergartens.
the enhancement of teacher self-efficacy. Following Grant et al.’s (2019)
suggestion, principals should create warm, supportive, and encouraging Funding
working conditions in the kindergarten in order to facilitate teachers’
flow experience and enhance their well-being. Specifically, kindergarten This study was supported by the Quality Education Fund of Hong
principals should effectively strengthen the mutual trust among teach­ Kong SAR under Grant No. EDB/QEF 49/17.
ers, recognize teachers’ contributions to the kindergarten in a timely
manner, and improve the fairness and transparency of promotion
mechanisms. The betterment of working conditions in the kindergarten Declarations of Interest
may enhance teachers’ well-being, and further improve their self-
efficacy. None.
Second, the results of this study suggest that the evaluation of
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