Investigating the link between teachers’ childhood trauma and student-related burnout: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy

Investigating the link between teachers’ childhood trauma and student-related burnout: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Investigating the link between teachers’ childhood trauma and student-related burnout: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy Matteo Angelo Fabris, Shanyan Lin, Claudio Longobardi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7410981/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Teachers are a risk group for developing burnout, especially student-related burnout. However, the associated risk factors have hardly been researched. Our cross-sectional study investigates the possible association between previous traumatic childhood experiences and student-related burnout risk and the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy and emotional dysregulation. Participants is Italian K-12 teachers ( N = 1203; females: 88.1%; age: M = 46.93; SD = 10.22). Teachers completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire that included information about previous childhood traumatic experiences, emotional dysregulation, self-efficacy, and student-related burnout. The data show that teachers who report previous traumatic experiences tend to have a higher risk of student-related burnout. This relationship was also mediated by emotional dysregulation. Furthermore, emotional self-efficacy mediated the relationship between emotional dysregulation and student-related burnout, but not the relationship between a teacher's previous traumatic experiences in childhood and student-related burnout. Thus, our data seems to suggest that teachers with prior traumatic experiences are more likely to report a higher risk of student-related burnout and that measures of their ability to regulate emotions and feel effective in managing emotions contribute to their risk of reporting burnout associated with their relationship with students. Limitations, practical implications and future directions for research are described. teachers childhood traumatic experiences emotional self-efficacy burnout student-teacher relationship emotion dysregulation Figures Figure 1 Introduction Several theorists and researchers point to the importance of teachers' psychological well-being in predicting more favorable developmental and academic outcomes in students [1]. One of the most important factors that can contribute to a decline in teachers' psychological well-being is burnout [2]. The term burnout refers to a psychological syndrome that occurs when one is exposed to chronic stress related to work [3]. This syndrome is characterized by the presence of three symptoms: emotional exhaustion (lack of resources to cope with emotional events), cynicism (detachment and cynical attitude towards one's work) and reduced professional efficacy [3]. Teachers are an occupational group with a high risk of burnout [4]. This is likely due to the high demands and stressors they face daily during their work activities, including dealing with student misbehavior and problematic behaviors, heavy workload and administrative tasks, and frequent performance evaluation [4]. In addition, teachers are a population that is increasingly exposed to physical and verbal aggression from students and their parents [5]. Overall, these aspects make the teacher a subject potentially at risk of burnout. Not only does burnout have important implications for the teacher's individual well-being [6], but various research suggests a link between teacher burnout and more negative developmental and academic outcomes in students, such as a decrease in academic achievement, lower motivation to learn, and lower psychological adjustment [1, 6]. Research also suggests that classroom management and the dyadic relationship with students are among the main sources of stress for teachers [7]. In this sense, student-related burnout refers specifically to the physical and psychological exhaustion that teachers experience in their relationship with students. This dimension of burnout differs from more general work-related burnout as it captures a specific aspect that concerns the teacher-student relationship [8]. Numerous research studies have shown that a positive relationship with the teacher, characterized by high levels of affection, support and closeness and low levels of conflict, tends to lead to better psychological adjustment and better academic outcomes in students at all school levels and promotes a more positive classroom climate [9–13]. However, there is evidence that teacher burnout tends to be associated with a deterioration in the quality of the teacher-student relationship and thus represents a risk factor for the psychological adjustment of students and the classroom climate. Infact, teachers with high levels of burnout tend to report poor relatedness [6] and lower quality of interactions with children in their classroom [14], and they also tend to report less supportive and more conflictual relationships with students [15]. Considering the value that a positive quality of the teacher-student relationship represents for students' psychological adjustment and academic outcomes, and considering that burnout could negatively affect these outcomes by influencing the quality of the teacher-student relationship, it is important for us to identify possible risk factors associated with student-related burnout and to increase knowledge about what mechanisms might be involved in this relationship. In this direction, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between teachers past traumatic childhood experiences and student-related burnout, examining emotional dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy as possible mediating factors. Teachers’ Childhood Trauma and Student-related Burnout For the adult population, adverse developmental experiences (ACEs) or traumatic experiences in childhood are a possible source of stress. ACEs include a range of potentially traumatic experiences ranging from physical and sexual abuse to the death of a parent. It is estimated that a quarter of the world's adult population has had at least one adverse developmental experience [16], while in Italy an estimated 62% of the adult population report previous experiences of emotional abuse in childhood, while 44% 18% report previous experiences of physical and sexual abuse respectively [17]. According to Lazarus' [18] transactional model, past traumatic experiences can influence the way the subject copes with stress, and this could have an impact on work-related stress, especially in occupations that are particularly affected by work-related stress, such as teachers [19]. Along these lines, some studies have found that previous traumatic experiences tend to be associated with more negative indicators of job performance (including absenteeism, low motivation, and financial problems), and job-related burnout [20]. Some studies show a link between previous traumatic childhood experiences and job-related burnout in people who work in contact with children, such as early childhood educators [21] and K-12 teachers [22]. However, these studies examined measures of job-related burnout in the teacher population but did not focus specifically on student-related burnout. In our opinion, this is a limitation considering the great impact that the teacher-student relationship has on students' psychological adjustment and the quality of the emotional classroom climate [9]. Furthermore, the literature offers interesting suggestions for a specific consideration of the link between the teacher's previous traumatic childhood experiences and the risk of developing student-related burnout. In general, it seems that previous traumatic childhood experiences have detrimental effects on caregivers. Indeed, several studies support a link between ACEs and parental stress [23] and lower confidence in parenting abilities [24]. Even if the teacher is not a parental figure, they are considered an "ad hoc attachment figure" [25, 26] and therefore these data open up the possibility that previous traumatic childhood experiences could lead teachers to be more sensitive to perceived stress in their relationships with students. Teachers with previous traumatic childhood experiences tend to report poorer relationship quality with students and more negative teacher-student interactions [19], which in turn are a risk factor for teacher burnout [15]. In addition, a recent paper has shown that teachers who report previous traumatic experiences in childhood tend to report on a more detached and less empathetic relationship with their students [25]. Finally, teachers who have suffered ACEs are more prone to developing symptoms of secondary traumatic stress when working with traumatized students [27]. Some conceptualize secondary traumatic stress as a form of burnout [28], while others distinguish the two constructs [29]. However, the fact that teachers with previous traumatic experiences tend to report a higher risk of secondary traumatic stress suggests that individuals with ACEs have greater difficulty coping and processing stress [27]. Overall, it therefore seems interesting to investigate the association between previous traumatic experiences in teachers and the risk of reporting student-related burnout, thus adding to the current knowledge about the possible impact of previous traumatic experiences on teachers' relational well-being. Furthermore, in this study we aim to investigate the possible mediating role of emotion regulation and emotional self-efficacy in mediating the association between past traumatic childhood experiences and student-related burnout in teachers. Childhood trauma, emotion dysregulation and burnout One of the effects attributed in literature to traumatic experiences in childhood is emotional dysregulation [30]. Emotion regulation is a multidimensional construct defined as a person's ability to recognize, monitor, and respond to emotional experiences given the demands of a particular context [31]. More specifically, Gratz and Roemer [31] define emotion regulation as a set of skills and processes that enable 1) the awareness and understanding of emotions, 2) the acceptance of emotions, 3) the ability to engage in goal-directed behavior in the presence of negative emotions, and 4) the flexible use of emotion regulation strategies to modulate emotional responses. Conversely, emotion dysregulation can be defined as a deficit or impairment in any of these abilities, with a focus on the inability to regulate negative emotions. The literature seems to indicate that emotional dysregulation is a risk factor for burnout [32], and some recent empirical evidence reports an association between emotional dysregulation and job burnout in teachers [33, 34]. It is possible that emotion dysregulation in teachers is associated with maladaptive social and interpersonal emotional responses resulting from heightened sensitivity, greater emotional reactivity, and an inability to down-regulate emotional response [33]. It is assumed that teachers who are better able to regulate and manage their emotions are more successful in dealing with stressful situations and are less likely to suffer from emotional exhaustion and depersonalization [35]. In this direction, there is evidence to suggest that emotion dysregulation can influence burnout by reducing resilience [34]. In this sense, teachers who develop more appropriate emotion regulation skills may be more resilient in the face of stressors, which could protect them from burnout. In addition, emotion regulation is considered an important skill for forming positive social relationships. A teacher with better emotion regulation skills could therefore build more positive relationships with colleagues and superiors, leading to greater perceived social support, which is a protective factor for burnout in teachers [36]. Similarly, better emotion regulation skills can help teachers build more positive relationships with students and appear to be associated with a greater ability of teachers to achieve set academic outcomes and maintain good classroom management and discipline practices, significantly reducing stress and the risk of developing burnout [36]. Ultimately, emotion regulation appears to be an essential skill for coping with stress, increasing positive emotions and reducing burnout [35]. However, the studies have examined emotional dysregulation and burnout without specifically examining student-related burnout in teachers. This is a limitation considering that the relationship with students can be a source of stress and can evoke intense and negative emotions in the teacher, especially when dealing with students with problematic behavior or severe psychological distress [34]. We must also remember that teaching is a context that involves constant management of interpersonal relationships, and that emotional regulation plays an important role in building a positive teacher-student relationship [33]. Given the link between previous traumatic experiences and emotional dysregulation, it is also possible that teachers with previous traumatic experiences in childhood are at higher risk of reporting emotional dysregulation, which in turn could explain the link between teachers' traumatic experiences in childhood and student-related burnout. However, we are not aware of any studies that have investigated this association and the possible mediating role of emotion dysregulation in teachers. Childhood trauma, emotional self-efficacy and burnout Another factor that could play a role in explaining the links between previous traumatic experiences in the teacher's childhood and student-related burnout is emotional self-efficacy. The construct of self-efficacy, developed within the framework of social cognitive theory, was introduced to the psychological literature by Bandura [37]. He defines it as a "belief in one's own ability to organize and execute the courses of action required to achieve specific goals" (p.3). Applied to the school context, self-efficacy refers to the teacher's belief that he or she can organize and carry out certain teaching actions in a specific educational setting [38]. Some evidence suggests that teachers with higher levels of self-efficacy tend to report higher job satisfaction, and several research studies show a negative association between self-efficacy and burnout in teachers [34, 35, 39]. In practice, the authors find that teachers with high self-efficacy are more competent at organizing and managing their classrooms and monitoring learners, and they tend to report better relationships with colleagues and are more engaged with their students, leading to lower stress and lower risk of burnout [35, 40]. In contrast, teachers with low self-efficacy are more likely to feel inadequate and tend to amplify the difficulties they face and think more about their own frailty [37], which increases the risk of job burnout [35, 39]. Moreover, longitudinal studies have shown that teachers with higher self-efficacy tend to report more positive emotions, while low self-efficacy tends to increase negative emotions and thus increase the risk of emotional exhaustion. It is possible that teachers with low self-efficacy tend to doubt themselves and view themselves as less capable of coping with the environmental demands which will make them more susceptible to experiencing negative emotions [39], which in turn is a stressor that puts teachers at greater risk of reporting burnout [39]. Although the emotions experienced by teachers can stem from various school-related factors, the most frequent and intense emotions seem to stem from teaching activities and the relationship with students [41]. Given the influence of negative emotions on teacher burnout and given that the relationship with students can be a source of stress and trigger negative emotions in teachers, it therefore seems important to us to examine specifically student-related burnout rather than general measures of job-related burnout. Furthermore, previous literature has examined the relationship between teacher burnout and self-efficacy by drawing on general measures of self-efficacy, whereas no study that we are aware of has directly examined the relationship between teacher burnout and emotional self-efficacy. This is a limitation when considering the emotional underpinnings of the teacher-student relationship and how negative emotions in the interpersonal relationship with students and in the classroom can impact teachers' stress levels. Emotional self-efficacy refers to the beliefs a person has about their ability to process, understand, and manage their emotions [42]. The literature suggests that emotional self-efficacy is a protective factor for psychological distress [43] and appears to be an important coping skill in emotionally stressful work [44]. For example, workers with low emotional self-efficacy may perceive themselves as unable to manage negative emotions related to adversity or negative events, and this may lead them to feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, putting the individual at risk of burnout [45]. In this direction, several studies have observed a negative association between emotional self-efficacy and job burnout in different categories, such as military cadets [45] and nurses [46], but no study has examined the relationship between emotional self-efficacy and burnout (especially student-related burnout) in teachers. Furthermore, no study has examined the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy in the relationship between prior traumatic experiences and student-related burnout. However, several studies report an association between prior traumatic experiences in childhood and lower levels of self-efficacy in adulthood [47], including lower levels of emotional self-efficacy [48]. This is likely because stressful events such as abuse and maltreatment in childhood can influence the development of negative beliefs about oneself and the development of negative perceptions of physiological and affective states, thus making the subject perceive that they are unable to cope with emotionally stressful situations [37, 47]. Therefore, it is important to address the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy when considering the impact of previous traumatic childhood experiences on teachers' emotional functioning in school [49]. In this sense, it is possible that teachers with previous traumatic experiences have developed a belief that they cannot manage and recognize their own emotions, increasing the risk of burnout as a result of certain stressors, such as interacting with their students. The aim of the study The aim of the present study is to investigate a possible association between teachers' prior traumatic experiences and the risk of reporting student-related burnout, as well as the possible mediating role of emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy. Specifically, we expect that prior traumatic experiences are associated with an increased risk of student-related burnout in teachers. Furthermore, we hypothesize that previous traumatic experiences are associated with higher emotion dysregulation and lower self-efficacy, which in turn are associated with student-related burnout. Finally, we also hypothesize that emotional self-efficacy may mediate the relationship between emotion dysregulation and student-related burnout. This hypothesis seems interesting to investigate considering that regulatory emotional self-efficacy embodies the role of self-efficacy in the process of emotional self-regulation [43]. Not only do the two constructs appear to be central to coping with stress and burnout risk, but both tend to be associated with ACEs, as described earlier. Emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy appear to be closely linked, and there is evidence that the level of difficulty people have in regulating their emotions is a good predictor of the confidence they have in their ability to cope with challenges and threats [50] . In this sense, emotional dysregulation could lead the teacher to feel unable to deal with situations that trigger negative emotions and thus become more vulnerable to burnout, and in our study particularly to student-related burnout. Method Participants and procedure The participants were 1203 teachers (88.1% females) recruited from different school levels (from kindergarten to high school). Their average age was 46.93 years (SD = 10.22) and their years of teaching 17.91 years (SD = 11.46). Most of the teachers (n = 1064, 88.4%) came from public schools and most of them (n = 1017, 84.5%) were curriculum teachers. Prior to data collection, ethical approval was obtained from the committee of the college to which the authors belonged. Schools were contacted through the authors’ personal network and public contact information. After the principal gave consent, a link to the questionnaire was sent to all teachers in that school. The Participants were required to sign the consent form before starting to complete the questionnaire. Participants’ rights were respected and they could withdraw their participation at any time. Participation in this study is completely voluntary and without any rewards or gifts. Instruments The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF, [51]) was used to assess the trauma experienced by teachers during their childhood. The CTQ-SF is a Likert-scale with 28 items scored out of 5 points (1 = Never true , 5 = Always true ). Five types of childhood maltreatment were measured, including emotional abuse (e.g., “Felt hated by family”), physical abuse (e.g., “Hit hard enough to leave bruises”), sexual abuse (e.g., “Hurt if didn’t do something sexual”), emotional neglect (e.g., “Felt loved (Reverse-scored)”), physical neglect (e.g., “Not enough to eat”). The final score was calculated as the sum of ratings on all the items, with higher values representing higher levels of childhood trauma. In the current sample, the Cronbach’s alpha was .62. The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form (DER-SF, [52]) was used to measure emotion dysregulation in teachers. The DER-SF consists of 18 items that measure six dimensions of difficulties in emotion regulation: (1) Strategies (e.g., “When I’m upset, it takes me a long time to feel better.”); (2) Non-acceptance (e.g., “When I’m upset, I feel guilty for feeling that way.”); (3) Impulse (e.g., “When I’m upset, I have difficulty controlling my behavior.”); (4) Goals (e.g., “When I’m upset, I have difficulty focusing on other things.”); (5) Awareness (e.g., “I care about what I am feelings.”); (6) Clarity (e.g., “I am confused about how I feel.”). Items were rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 ( Almost never ) to 5 ( Almost always ). The final score was the sum of the ratings on all items with higher values indicating more difficulties in emotion regulation. In the current sample, the Cronbach’s alpha was .85. Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale The Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES), developed by Kirk et al. [42], was used to measure the teachers’ self-efficacy in relation to emotion. The ESES consists of 32 items (e.g., “Use positive emotions to generate good ideas.”). Teachers were asked to rate their confidence on a five-point scale (1 = Not at all , 5 = Very ). The sum of all the item ratings was taken as the final score with higher value indicating better emotional self-efficacy. The Cronbach’s alpha was .97 in the current sample. Copenhagen Burnout Inventory Student-related burnout in teachers was measured using the Italian version of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI, [8]). The CBI consists of three subscales, including personal burnout (six items, e.g., “How often do you feel tired?”), work-related burnout (seven items, e.g., “Are you exhausted in the morning at the thought of another day at work?”), and student-related burnout (six items, e.g., “Do you find it hard to work with students?”). According to the research aim, the student-related burnout subscale was used, and teachers were required to rate the six items on a 5-point scale (1 = Never , 5 = Always ). The sum of all the six items was calculated as the final score for teachers’ student-related burnout with higher score indicating higher level of burnout. The Cronbach’s alpha was .75 in the current sample. Data analysis SPSS 29.0 was used to analyze the data. First, the descriptive (means and standard deviations) and correlative analyzes were performed for the variables studied and controlled, primarily to examine the relationships between the variables. Subsequently, the PROCESS macro (Model 6; [53]) was used to examine the mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation and emotional self-efficacy on the association between childhood trauma and study-related burnout. Finally, the bootstrap procedure was used to generate the confidence intervals (CI) for indirect effects [54]. The bootstrap sample size in the current study is 5000, and if the 95% CIs do not include zero, the mediating effect is considered significant. Results The descriptive and correlative results The means, standard deviations, and correlations of the variables are shown in Table 1 . As expected, the variables examined were significantly correlated with each other. In particular, childhood trauma was positively correlated with difficulties in emotion regulation ( r = .25, p < .001) and student-related burnout ( r = .16, p < .001), and negatively correlated with emotional self-efficacy ( r = − .11, p < 0.001). Emotion regulation difficulties were negatively correlated with emotional self-efficacy ( r = − .36, p < 0.001), while they were positively correlated with student-related burnout ( r = .22, p < 0.001). Teachers who had higher levels of emotional self-efficacy tended to have lower levels of student-related burnout ( r = − .29, p < 0.001). The mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation and emotional self-efficacy The PROCESS macro (Model 6; [ 53 ]) for SPSS was used to analyze the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties and emotional self-efficacy on the Table 1 Means, standard deviations, and correlations of the variables. Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1. Age — 2. Gender –.02 — 3. Teaching years .81*** –.06* — 4. CTQ .05 –.02 .03 — 5. DERS –.07* .02 –.02 .25*** — 6. Emotional self-efficacy –.02 –.05 –.04 –.11*** –.36*** — 7. CBI .12*** –.01 .14*** .16*** .22*** –.29*** — M 46.93 0.11 17.91 33.04 36.12 115.33 12.04 SD 10.22 0.32 11.46 9.61 10.31 21.15 3.48 Note : Gender (0 = female, 1 = male); CTQ = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; DERS = Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; CBI = Copenhagen Burnout Inventory; * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001. association between teachers’ childhood trauma experiences and student-related burnout. As shown in Fig. 1 , difficulties in emotion regulation were positively predicted by teachers’ childhood trauma ( β = .25, p < .001), which in turn positively predicted student-related burnout ( β = .12, p < .001). For emotional self-efficacy, although it negatively predicted student-related burnout ( β = −.23, p < .001), the relationship between childhood trauma and emotional self-efficacy was nonsignificant ( β = −.02, p = .524). In addition, emotional self-efficacy was negative predicted by difficulties in emotion regulation ( β = −.36, p < .001). The potential indirect effects of emotion regulation difficulties and emotional self-efficacy were further tested by the bootstrap procedure. As shown in Table 2 , the simple indirect effect of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between childhood trauma Table 2 Indirect effect and 95% confidence intervals. Indirect effect Estimated effect 95% CI Lower Upper CTQ → DER → CBI 0.0310 0.0141 0.0500 CTQ → ESE → CBI 0.0041 –0.0097 0.0180 CTQ → DER →ESE → CBI 0.0207 0.0133 0.0295 Note : CTQ = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; DERS = Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; ESE = Emotional Self-efficacy; CBI = Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. All the estimated indirect effects are standardized. CI = confidence interval. and student-related burnout was estimated at 0.0310 (95% CI = [0.0141, 0.0500]) which was significant since zero was not included in its 95% CI, whereas zero was included in the 95% CI of the indirect effect of emotional self-efficacy in this relationship. However, the chain mediating effect of difficulties in emotion regulation and emotional self-efficacy was significant (95% CI = [0.0133, 0.0295]). Thus, childhood trauma not only has a direct effect on teachers’ burnout, but also an indirect effect via the simple mediating effect of emotion regulation difficulties and the chain mediating effect of emotion regulation difficulties and emotional self-efficacy. Discussion The aim of this study was to investigate the association between previous traumatic childhood teacher experiences and the risk of student-related burnout by examining the possible mediating role of emotional dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy. Our study found a significant and positive association between teachers' previous traumatic experiences and student-related burnout. Our data seems to be in line with some recent findings [ 22 ], which found a link between previous traumatic experiences and job-related burnout in teachers. Overall, then, our study seems to support the idea that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in childhood are at higher risk of reporting burnout, probably because such developmental experiences have undermined the victim's ability to cope with stress, making them more vulnerable to occupational burnout. However, our study extended the current state of knowledge by specifically examining the relationship between prior traumatic experiences in childhood and student-related burnout, a specific dimension of job-related burnout in K-12 teachers [ 8 ]. This finding is important not only because the dyadic relationship with students and classroom management are among the main stressors in teachers' daily work [ 7 ], but also because teachers who report previous traumatic experiences tend to report more negative relationships with their students [ 6 , 14 ], which could reinforce the perception of the relationship with students as a source of stress and negative emotions, thus increasing the risk of burnout [ 55 ]. Finally, a negative teacher-student relationship can have a negative impact on students' psychological adjustment and classroom climate, creating a potential vicious cycle that exacerbates the teacher's negative feelings and perceived level of stress in the relationship with students. Our study also sought to expand knowledge about the role of two possible mediating factors in the relationship between prior childhood traumatic experiences and student-related burnout in teachers, namely emotional dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy. Regarding the possible mediating role of these two factors, our hypotheses were only partially confirmed. Regarding emotional dysregulation, our data supports the hypothesis of a possible mediating role of emotional dysregulation in the relationship between previous traumatic experiences in childhood and student-related burnout in teachers. The data are consistent with previous literature identifying emotional dysregulation in adults because of childhood victimization experiences [ 30 ]. In addition, recent studies have found an association between emotional dysregulation and general measures of burnout in teachers [ 33 , 34 ]. Our findings therefore appear to be consistent with previous research and extend the current literature by demonstrating a significant positive association between emotional dysregulation and student-related burnout in teachers. As we have argued previously, teachers tend to perceive their relationship with their students as a major source of stress [ 7 ]. Research suggests that individuals with high levels of emotion regulation cope better with stress [ 35 ] and prove to be more resilient to stressors, which may translate into a lower risk of burnout [ 33 , 34 ]. In addition, teachers with high levels of emotion regulation tend to report more positive relationships with their students [ 36 ], and this could therefore reduce stressors related to relationships with students and classroom management, considering that a more positive quality of teacher-student relationship tends to be associated with a more positive classroom climate and better psychological adjustment of students [ 15 ]. Given the close association between childhood victimization and emotional dysregulation, our study is also the first to find evidence for a possible mediating role of emotional dysregulation in the relationship between prior traumatic childhood experiences and student-related burnout in teachers. In this direction, the data show that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in their childhood tend to be more dysregulated, which in turn is associated with increased burnout. This finding is interesting considering that there is evidence that teachers are sensitive to previous traumatic experiences [ 56 ]. It is therefore possible that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in their childhood are at an increased risk of developing student-related burnout as they have lower emotional regulation skills. Since emotional dysregulation is primarily related to difficulties in modulating negative emotions, it is possible that teachers with previous traumatic childhood experiences are less able to regulate negative emotions when prompted by a conflictual and unsynchronized relationship with students and therefore feel overwhelmed by negative emotions and are at higher risk of reporting burnout, especially student-related burnout. However, regarding the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy, our data is only partially confirmed. Some previous findings had shown an association between emotional self-efficacy and job burnout in some occupational groups [ 45 , 46 ], but no study had yet considered teachers. Our study is therefore the first to arrive at similar data and find a negative association between emotional self-efficacy and burnout, particularly student-related burnout, in teachers. When a teacher is dealing with difficult students, such as students with severe disabilities, psychological disorders or victims of traumatic experiences, they may be more likely to report negative emotions, which in turn could increase distress and emotional exhaustion, leading to an increased risk of burnout [ 55 ]. Emotional self-efficacy, and thus the belief that one can effectively manage negative emotions in stressful situations, seems to be an important skill to avoid feeling overwhelmed by negative emotions and to reduce stress [ 44 , 45 ], leading to a protective factor for burnout. Our data seem to point in this direction, but in contrast to previous literature demonstrating an association between ACEs and emotional self-efficacy [ 48 ], our data failed to identify such a relationship in our sample. This finding is curious and warrants further investigation in the future, even considering that literature seems to have focused primarily on the relationship between traumatic experiences and general measures of self-efficacy. Although our data did not identify childhood trauma as a predictor of emotional self-efficacy, our study shows that the relationship between childhood trauma and emotional self-efficacy appears to be mediated by emotional dysregulation. Specifically, previous traumatic experiences in childhood are associated with an increase in emotional dysregulation, which in turn is associated with a decrease in emotional self-efficacy. Emotional regulation and emotional self-efficacy are closely related constructs and are likely to have a bidirectional relationship [ 43 ]. It is possible that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in childhood tend to report lower emotion regulation skills. Along these lines, poor emotion regulation skills tend to predict lower emotional self-efficacy, likely because difficulties in emotion regulation led the subject to perceive that they are unable to manage their negative emotions [ 50 ]. Furthermore, our data show the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy in the relationship between emotional dysregulation and student-related burnout. This could indicate that teachers with low emotion regulation skills tend to develop a low belief that they can regulate their emotions. This could lead them to amplify stressful situations and feel ineffective in relation to negative emotions, resulting in them becoming overwhelmed by stress and increasing the risk of developing burnout. Ultimately, our study seems to suggest that K-12 teachers who have experienced traumatic childhood experiences tend to report greater emotional dysregulation, which in turn is associated with lower emotional self-efficacy, which in turn is associated with a decreased risk of student-related burnout. Overall, we can start from the consideration that the relationship with students is one of the main sources of stress for teachers, especially when it triggers negative emotions in the teacher, which puts the teacher at greater risk of developing burnout. Under this premise, it becomes clear how important it is for teachers to develop skills to cope with and manage stressful situations, especially in emotional terms. In this sense, the ability to regulate negative emotions and the belief that one can manage emotionally stressful situations seem to be two important factors that reduce the teacher's risk of reporting burnout in the context of the relationship with the student. Knowing how to regulate emotions and believing that one is in control of one's emotions could make the teacher feel more effective in dealing with emotionally stressful situations, thus reducing the risk of feeling overwhelmed by negative emotions and thus the risk of burnout, especially student-related burnout. However, our data seems to indicate that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in their childhood report a deterioration in their emotional functioning. In particular, previous traumatic childhood experiences appear to increase emotional dysregulation, which in turn may create a belief in the individual that they are unable to manage their own emotions, making the teacher more vulnerable to stress and therefore at greater risk of student-related burnout. Limitations and Future Directions The data presented here must be read with careful consideration of the limitations of the study. First, the study adopted a cross-sectional approach, which prevents us from understanding linear causal links in the relationship between the constructs. This can be investigated in future studies using a longitudinal approach. Furthermore, although we were able to recruit a large sample of K-12 teachers, our sample cannot be said to be representative of the Italian teacher population, which limits the generalizability of our results. Future studies could therefore use representative samples of the Italian teacher population. In addition, cross-cultural comparisons could shed light on possible differences from a cultural perspective. Finally, we used self-report instruments, so our results could be influenced by aspects such as text comprehension, social desirability and memory. Future studies could therefore incorporate new survey instruments or involve third-party observers. Finally, future analyzes could consider specific forms of traumatic experiences and enrich the model with additional variables that could explain the association between childhood traumatic experiences and burnout (in general or specifically in relation to the teacher-student relationship). Practical implications Despite the limitations described, our study opens up possible practical implications for the well-being of teachers at all school levels. First of all, it is important to sensitize teachers to how their own past traumatic childhood experiences may influence their psychological well-being and, in particular, the risk of reporting student-related burnout. Furthermore, we believe that promoting individual well-being and self-care is an element that should be included in trauma-informed professional development. In this sense, schools should create a welcoming setting for individuals who have experienced ACEs and provide opportunities for teachers to work with a specialist (e.g., a school psychologist) to develop an awareness of how trauma impacts emotional and interpersonal functioning in the present and initiate appropriate treatment strategies. In addition, school psychologists and practitioners working with teachers should consider investigating previous trauma experiences in teachers who exhibit burnout or difficulty working with students and classes. In addition, the school system should invest in developing a culture of stress management and establish initiatives and services that can help teachers develop their emotion regulation skills and increase their emotional self-efficacy, especially if they have experienced trauma in childhood. Declarations Acknowledgment Not applicable. Ethics approval and consent to participate The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Turin. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Declaration of Competing Interest. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this study. Fundings This study wasn’t funded. Informed consent Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study Consent for publication Not Applicable. Code availability. For this research we used SPSS 29 software available from our university. Availability of data The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Authors’ Contributions MAF: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing-original draft, Writing-reviewing & editing. SL: Writing-original draft, Writing-reviewing & editing, Formal analysis. CL: Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Writing-reviewing & editing. References Madigan DJ, Kim LE, Glandorf HL, Kavanagh O. Teacher burnout and physical health: A systematic review. International Journal of Educational Research. 2023;119:102173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2023.102173. Capone V, Petrillo G. Mental health in teachers: Relationships with job satisfaction, efficacy beliefs, burnout and depression. 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1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":27464,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe final mediation model.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: CTQ = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; DERS = Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; CBI = Copenhagen Burnout Inventory.Teacher’s age, gender, and teaching years were included as controlled variables, but they are not illustrated in the figure to make the picture concise. All the regression coefficients are standardized.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7410981/v1/12a077a557b1e4be094fb236.png"},{"id":92681302,"identity":"67ce7975-7407-49f4-83d5-691cd1a5e3c4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-10-03 01:09:07","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":799455,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7410981/v1/610c80e2-1f7d-4148-8a6a-30dbc737437f.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Investigating the link between teachers’ childhood trauma and student-related burnout: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy","fulltext":[{"header":"Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eSeveral theorists and researchers point to the importance of teachers\u0026apos; psychological well-being in predicting more favorable developmental and academic outcomes in students\u0026nbsp;[1]. One of the most important factors that can contribute to a decline in teachers\u0026apos; psychological well-being is burnout\u0026nbsp;[2]. The term burnout refers to a psychological syndrome that occurs when one is exposed to chronic stress related to work\u0026nbsp;[3]. This syndrome is characterized by the presence of three symptoms: emotional exhaustion (lack of resources to cope with emotional events), cynicism (detachment and cynical attitude towards one\u0026apos;s work) and reduced professional efficacy\u0026nbsp;[3]. Teachers are an occupational group with a high risk of burnout\u0026nbsp;[4]. This is likely due to the high demands and stressors they face daily during their work activities, including dealing with student misbehavior and problematic behaviors, heavy workload and administrative tasks, and frequent performance evaluation\u0026nbsp;[4]. In addition, teachers are a population that is increasingly exposed to physical and verbal aggression from students and their parents\u0026nbsp;[5]. Overall, these aspects make the teacher a subject potentially at risk of burnout. Not only does burnout have important implications for the teacher\u0026apos;s individual well-being\u0026nbsp;[6], but various research suggests a link between teacher burnout and more negative developmental and academic outcomes in students, such as a decrease in academic achievement, lower motivation to learn, and lower psychological adjustment [1, 6].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResearch also suggests that classroom management and the dyadic relationship with students are among the main sources of stress for teachers [7]. In this sense, student-related burnout refers specifically to the physical and psychological exhaustion that teachers experience in their relationship with students. This dimension of burnout differs from more general work-related burnout as it captures a specific aspect that concerns the teacher-student relationship [8]. Numerous research studies have shown that a positive relationship with the teacher, characterized by high levels of affection, support and closeness and low levels of conflict, tends to lead to better psychological adjustment and better academic outcomes in students at all school levels and promotes a more positive classroom climate [9\u0026ndash;13]. However, there is evidence that teacher burnout tends to be associated with a deterioration in the quality of the teacher-student relationship and thus represents a risk factor for the psychological adjustment of students and the classroom climate. Infact, teachers with high levels of burnout tend to report poor relatedness [6] and lower quality of interactions with children in their classroom [14], and they also tend to report less supportive and more conflictual relationships with students [15]. Considering the value that a positive quality of the teacher-student relationship represents for students\u0026apos; psychological adjustment and academic outcomes, and considering that burnout could negatively affect these outcomes by influencing the quality of the teacher-student relationship, it is important for us to identify possible risk factors associated with student-related burnout and to increase knowledge about what mechanisms might be involved in this relationship. In this direction, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between teachers past traumatic childhood experiences and student-related burnout, examining emotional dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy as possible mediating factors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTeachers\u0026rsquo; Childhood Trauma and Student-related Burnout\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor the adult population, adverse developmental experiences (ACEs) or traumatic experiences in childhood are a possible source of stress. ACEs include a range of potentially traumatic experiences ranging from physical and sexual abuse to the death of a parent. It is estimated that a quarter of the world\u0026apos;s adult population has had at least one adverse developmental experience [16], while in Italy an estimated 62% of the adult population report previous experiences of emotional abuse in childhood, while 44% 18% report previous experiences of physical and sexual abuse respectively [17]. According to Lazarus\u0026apos; [18] transactional model, past traumatic experiences can influence the way the subject copes with stress, and this could have an impact on work-related stress, especially in occupations that are particularly affected by work-related stress, such as teachers [19]. Along these lines, some studies have found that previous traumatic experiences tend to be associated with more negative indicators of job performance (including absenteeism, low motivation, and financial problems), and job-related burnout [20]. Some studies show a link between previous traumatic childhood experiences and job-related burnout in people who work in contact with children, such as early childhood educators [21] and K-12 teachers [22]. However, these studies examined measures of job-related burnout in the teacher population but did not focus specifically on student-related burnout. In our opinion, this is a limitation considering the great impact that the teacher-student relationship has on students\u0026apos; psychological adjustment and the quality of the emotional classroom climate [9]. Furthermore, the literature offers interesting suggestions for a specific consideration of the link between the teacher\u0026apos;s previous traumatic childhood experiences and the risk of developing student-related burnout. In general, it seems that previous traumatic childhood experiences have detrimental effects on caregivers. Indeed, several studies support a link between ACEs and parental stress [23] and lower confidence in parenting abilities [24]. Even if the teacher is not a parental figure, they are considered an \u0026quot;ad hoc attachment figure\u0026quot; [25, 26] and therefore these data open up the possibility that previous traumatic childhood experiences could lead teachers to be more sensitive to perceived stress in their relationships with students. Teachers with previous traumatic childhood experiences tend to report poorer relationship quality with students and more negative teacher-student interactions [19], which in turn are a risk factor for teacher burnout [15]. In addition, a recent paper has shown that teachers who report previous traumatic experiences in childhood tend to report on a more detached and less empathetic relationship with their students [25]. Finally, teachers who have suffered ACEs are more prone to developing symptoms of secondary traumatic stress when working with traumatized students [27]. Some conceptualize secondary traumatic stress as a form of burnout [28], while others distinguish the two constructs [29]. However, the fact that teachers with previous traumatic experiences tend to report a higher risk of secondary traumatic stress suggests that individuals with ACEs have greater difficulty coping and processing stress [27].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOverall, it therefore seems interesting to investigate the association between previous traumatic experiences in teachers and the risk of reporting student-related burnout, thus adding to the current knowledge about the possible impact of previous traumatic experiences on teachers\u0026apos; relational well-being. Furthermore, in this study we aim to investigate the possible mediating role of emotion regulation and emotional self-efficacy in mediating the association between past traumatic childhood experiences and student-related burnout in teachers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChildhood trauma, emotion dysregulation and burnout\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the effects attributed in literature to traumatic experiences in childhood is emotional dysregulation [30]. Emotion regulation is a multidimensional construct defined as a person\u0026apos;s ability to recognize, monitor, and respond to emotional experiences given the demands of a particular context [31]. More specifically, Gratz and Roemer [31] define emotion regulation as a set of skills and processes that enable 1) the awareness and understanding of emotions, 2) the acceptance of emotions, 3) the ability to engage in goal-directed behavior in the presence of negative emotions, and 4) the flexible use of emotion regulation strategies to modulate emotional responses. Conversely, emotion dysregulation can be defined as a deficit or impairment in any of these abilities, with a focus on the inability to regulate negative emotions. The literature seems to indicate that emotional dysregulation is a risk factor for burnout [32], and some recent empirical evidence reports an association between emotional dysregulation and job burnout in teachers [33, 34]. It is possible that emotion dysregulation in teachers is associated with maladaptive social and interpersonal emotional responses resulting from heightened sensitivity, greater emotional reactivity, and an inability to down-regulate emotional response [33]. It is assumed that teachers who are better able to regulate and manage their emotions are more successful in dealing with stressful situations and are less likely to suffer from emotional exhaustion and depersonalization [35]. In this direction, there is evidence to suggest that emotion dysregulation can influence burnout by reducing resilience [34]. In this sense, teachers who develop more appropriate emotion regulation skills may be more resilient in the face of stressors, which could protect them from burnout. In addition, emotion regulation is considered an important skill for forming positive social relationships. A teacher with better emotion regulation skills could therefore build more positive relationships with colleagues and superiors, leading to greater perceived social support, which is a protective factor for burnout in teachers [36]. Similarly, better emotion regulation skills can help teachers build more positive relationships with students and appear to be associated with a greater ability of teachers to achieve set academic outcomes and maintain good classroom management and discipline practices, significantly reducing stress and the risk of developing burnout [36]. Ultimately, emotion regulation appears to be an essential skill for coping with stress, increasing positive emotions and reducing burnout [35]. However, the studies have examined emotional dysregulation and burnout without specifically examining student-related burnout in teachers. This is a limitation considering that the relationship with students can be a source of stress and can evoke intense and negative emotions in the teacher, especially when dealing with students with problematic behavior or severe psychological distress [34]. We must also remember that teaching is a context that involves constant management of interpersonal relationships, and that emotional regulation plays an important role in building a positive teacher-student relationship [33]. Given the link between previous traumatic experiences and emotional dysregulation, it is also possible that teachers with previous traumatic experiences in childhood are at higher risk of reporting emotional dysregulation, which in turn could explain the link between teachers\u0026apos; traumatic experiences in childhood and student-related burnout. However, we are not aware of any studies that have investigated this association and the possible mediating role of emotion dysregulation in teachers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChildhood trauma, emotional self-efficacy and burnout\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother factor that could play a role in explaining the links between previous traumatic experiences in the teacher\u0026apos;s childhood and student-related burnout is emotional self-efficacy. The construct of self-efficacy, developed within the framework of social cognitive theory, was introduced to the psychological literature by Bandura [37]. He defines it as a \u0026quot;belief in one\u0026apos;s own ability to organize and execute the courses of action required to achieve specific goals\u0026quot; (p.3). Applied to the school context, self-efficacy refers to the teacher\u0026apos;s belief that he or she can organize and carry out certain teaching actions in a specific educational setting [38].\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome evidence suggests that teachers with higher levels of self-efficacy tend to report higher job satisfaction, and several research studies show a negative association between self-efficacy and burnout in teachers [34, 35, 39]. In practice, the authors find that teachers with high self-efficacy are more competent at organizing and managing their classrooms and monitoring learners, and they tend to report better relationships with colleagues and are more engaged with their students, leading to lower stress and lower risk of burnout [35, 40]. In contrast, teachers with low self-efficacy are more likely to feel inadequate and tend to amplify the difficulties they face and think more about their own frailty [37], which increases the risk of job burnout [35, 39]. Moreover, longitudinal studies have shown that teachers with higher self-efficacy tend to report more positive emotions, while low self-efficacy tends to increase negative emotions and thus increase the risk of emotional exhaustion. It is possible that teachers with low self-efficacy tend to doubt themselves and view themselves as less capable of coping with the environmental demands which will make them more susceptible to experiencing negative emotions [39], which in turn is a stressor that puts teachers at greater risk of reporting burnout [39]. Although the emotions experienced by teachers can stem from various school-related factors, the most frequent and intense emotions seem to stem from teaching activities and the relationship with students [41]. Given the influence of negative emotions on teacher burnout and given that the relationship with students can be a source of stress and trigger negative emotions in teachers, it therefore seems important to us to examine specifically student-related burnout rather than general measures of job-related burnout. Furthermore, previous literature has examined the relationship between teacher burnout and self-efficacy by drawing on general measures of self-efficacy, whereas no study that we are aware of has directly examined the relationship between teacher burnout and emotional self-efficacy. This is a limitation when considering the emotional underpinnings of the teacher-student relationship and how negative emotions in the interpersonal relationship with students and in the classroom can impact teachers\u0026apos; stress levels. Emotional self-efficacy refers to the beliefs a person has about their ability to process, understand, and manage their emotions [42]. The literature suggests that emotional self-efficacy is a protective factor for psychological distress [43] and appears to be an important coping skill in emotionally stressful work [44]. For example, workers with low emotional self-efficacy may perceive themselves as unable to manage negative emotions related to adversity or negative events, and this may lead them to feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, putting the individual at risk of burnout [45]. In this direction, several studies have observed a negative association between emotional self-efficacy and job burnout in different categories, such as military cadets [45] and nurses [46], but no study has examined the relationship between emotional self-efficacy and burnout (especially student-related burnout) in teachers. Furthermore, no study has examined the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy in the relationship between prior traumatic experiences and student-related burnout. However, several studies report an association between prior traumatic experiences in childhood and lower levels of self-efficacy in adulthood [47], including lower levels of emotional self-efficacy [48]. This is likely because stressful events such as abuse and maltreatment in childhood can influence the development of negative beliefs about oneself and the development of negative perceptions of physiological and affective states, thus making the subject perceive that they are unable to cope with emotionally stressful situations [37, 47]. Therefore, it is important to address the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy when considering the impact of previous traumatic childhood experiences on teachers\u0026apos; emotional functioning in school [49]. In this sense, it is possible that teachers with previous traumatic experiences have developed a belief that they cannot manage and recognize their own emotions, increasing the risk of burnout as a result of certain stressors, such as interacting with their students.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe aim of the study\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe aim of the present study is to investigate a possible association between teachers\u0026apos;\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eprior traumatic experiences and the risk of reporting student-related burnout, as well as the possible mediating role of emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy. Specifically, we expect that prior traumatic experiences are associated with an increased risk of student-related burnout in teachers. Furthermore, we hypothesize that previous traumatic experiences are associated with higher emotion dysregulation and lower self-efficacy, which in turn are associated with student-related burnout. Finally, we also hypothesize that emotional self-efficacy may mediate the relationship between emotion dysregulation and student-related burnout. This hypothesis seems interesting to investigate considering that regulatory emotional self-efficacy embodies the role of self-efficacy in the process of emotional self-regulation [43]. Not only do the two constructs appear to be central to coping with stress and burnout risk, but both tend to be associated with ACEs, as described earlier. Emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy appear to be closely linked, and there is evidence that the level of difficulty people have in regulating their emotions is a good predictor of the confidence they have in their ability to cope with challenges and threats [50] . In this sense, emotional dysregulation could lead the teacher to feel unable to deal with situations that trigger negative emotions and thus become more vulnerable to burnout, and in our study particularly to student-related burnout.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Method","content":"\u003ch2\u003eParticipants and procedure\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe participants were 1203 teachers (88.1% females) recruited from different school levels (from kindergarten to high school). Their average age was 46.93 years (SD = 10.22) and their years of teaching 17.91 years (SD = 11.46). Most of the teachers (n = 1064, 88.4%) came from public schools and most of them (n = 1017, 84.5%) were curriculum teachers. Prior to data collection, ethical approval was obtained from the committee of the college to which the authors belonged. Schools were contacted through the authors’ personal network and public contact information. After the principal gave consent, a link to the questionnaire was sent to all teachers in that school. The Participants were required to sign the consent form before starting to complete the questionnaire. Participants’ rights were respected and they could withdraw their participation at any time. Participation in this study is completely voluntary and without any rewards or gifts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eInstruments\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF, [51]) was used to assess the trauma experienced by teachers during their childhood. The CTQ-SF is a Likert-scale with 28 items scored out of 5 points (1 = \u003cem\u003eNever true\u003c/em\u003e, 5 = \u003cem\u003eAlways true\u003c/em\u003e). Five types of childhood maltreatment were measured, including emotional abuse (e.g., “Felt hated by family”), physical abuse (e.g., “Hit hard enough to leave bruises”), sexual abuse (e.g., “Hurt if didn’t do something sexual”), emotional neglect (e.g., “Felt loved (Reverse-scored)”), physical neglect (e.g., “Not enough to eat”). The final score was calculated as the sum of ratings on all the items, with higher values representing higher levels of childhood trauma. In the current sample, the Cronbach’s alpha was .62.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-Short Form (DER-SF, [52]) was used to measure emotion dysregulation in teachers. The DER-SF consists of 18 items that measure six dimensions of difficulties in emotion regulation: (1) Strategies (e.g., “When I’m upset, it takes me a long time to feel better.”); (2) Non-acceptance (e.g., “When I’m upset, I feel guilty for feeling that way.”); (3) Impulse (e.g., “When I’m upset, I have difficulty controlling my behavior.”); (4) Goals (e.g., “When I’m upset, I have difficulty focusing on other things.”); (5) Awareness (e.g., “I care about what I am feelings.”); (6) Clarity (e.g., “I am confused about how I feel.”). Items were rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (\u003cem\u003eAlmost never\u003c/em\u003e) to 5 (\u003cem\u003eAlmost always\u003c/em\u003e). The final score was the sum of the ratings on all items with higher values indicating more difficulties in emotion regulation. In the current sample, the Cronbach’s alpha was .85.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmotional Self-Efficacy Scale\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Emotional Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES), developed by Kirk et al. [42], was used to measure the teachers’ self-efficacy in relation to emotion. The ESES consists of 32 items (e.g., “Use positive emotions to generate good ideas.”). Teachers were asked to rate their confidence on a five-point scale (1 = \u003cem\u003eNot at all\u003c/em\u003e, 5 = \u003cem\u003eVery\u003c/em\u003e). The sum of all the item ratings was taken as the final score with higher value indicating better emotional self-efficacy. The Cronbach’s alpha was .97 in the current sample.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e\u003cem\u003eCopenhagen Burnout Inventory\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStudent-related burnout in teachers was measured using the Italian version of the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI, [8]). The CBI consists of three subscales, including personal burnout (six items, e.g., “How often do you feel tired?”), work-related burnout (seven items, e.g., “Are you exhausted in the morning at the thought of another day at work?”), and student-related burnout (six items, e.g., “Do you find it hard to work with students?”). According to the research aim, the student-related burnout subscale was used, and teachers were required to rate the six items on a 5-point scale (1 = \u003cem\u003eNever\u003c/em\u003e, 5 = \u003cem\u003eAlways\u003c/em\u003e). The sum of all the six items was calculated as the final score for teachers’ student-related burnout with higher score indicating higher level of burnout. The Cronbach’s alpha was .75 in the current sample.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eData analysis\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSPSS 29.0 was used to analyze the data. First, the descriptive (means and standard deviations) and correlative analyzes were performed for the variables studied and controlled, primarily to examine the relationships between the variables. Subsequently, the PROCESS macro (Model 6; [53]) was used to examine the mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation and emotional self-efficacy on the association between childhood trauma and study-related burnout. Finally, the bootstrap procedure was used to generate the confidence intervals (CI) for indirect effects [54]. The bootstrap sample size in the current study is 5000, and if the 95% CIs do not include zero, the mediating effect is considered significant. \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003ch2\u003eThe descriptive and correlative results\u003c/h2\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe means, standard deviations, and correlations of the variables are shown in Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e. As expected, the variables examined were significantly correlated with each other. In particular, childhood trauma was positively correlated with difficulties in emotion regulation (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.25, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001) and student-related burnout (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.16, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), and negatively correlated with emotional self-efficacy (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.11, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). Emotion regulation difficulties were negatively correlated with emotional self-efficacy (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.36, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), while they were positively correlated with student-related burnout (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.22, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). Teachers who had higher levels of emotional self-efficacy tended to have lower levels of student-related burnout (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u0026minus;\u0026thinsp;.29, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe mediating role of difficulties in emotion regulation and emotional self-efficacy\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe PROCESS macro (Model 6; [\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e53\u003c/span\u003e]) for SPSS was used to analyze the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties and emotional self-efficacy on the\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\n \u003ctable id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e\n \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMeans, standard deviations, and correlations of the variables.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n \u003c/caption\u003e\n \u003cthead\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eVariables\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/thead\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e1. Age\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e2. Gender\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.02\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3. Teaching years\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.81***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.06*\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e4. CTQ\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.05\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.02\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.03\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e5. DERS\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.07*\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.02\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.02\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.25***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e6. Emotional self-efficacy\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.02\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.05\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.04\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.11***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.36***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e7. CBI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.12***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.01\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.14***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.16***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e.22***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;.29***\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026mdash;\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e46.93\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.11\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e17.91\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e33.04\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e36.12\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e115.33\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e12.04\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e10.22\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.32\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e11.46\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e9.61\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e10.31\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e21.15\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e3.48\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003ctfoot\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"8\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: Gender (0\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;female, 1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;male); CTQ\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; DERS\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; CBI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Copenhagen Burnout Inventory; *\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.05, **\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.01, ***\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001.\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tfoot\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eassociation between teachers\u0026rsquo; childhood trauma experiences and student-related burnout. As shown in Fig. \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e, difficulties in emotion regulation were positively predicted by teachers\u0026rsquo; childhood trauma (\u003cem\u003e\u0026beta;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.25, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), which in turn positively predicted student-related burnout (\u003cem\u003e\u0026beta;\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.12, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001). For emotional self-efficacy, although it negatively predicted student-related burnout (\u003cem\u003e\u0026beta;\u003c/em\u003e = \u0026minus;.23, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001), the relationship between childhood trauma and emotional self-efficacy was nonsignificant (\u003cem\u003e\u0026beta;\u003c/em\u003e = \u0026minus;.02, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.524). In addition, emotional self-efficacy was negative predicted by difficulties in emotion regulation (\u003cem\u003e\u0026beta;\u003c/em\u003e = \u0026minus;.36, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001).\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eThe potential indirect effects of emotion regulation difficulties and emotional self-efficacy were further tested by the bootstrap procedure. As shown in Table \u003cspan class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e, the simple indirect effect of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between childhood trauma\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\n \u003ctable id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e\n \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e\n \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIndirect effect and 95% confidence intervals.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n \u003c/caption\u003e\n \u003cthead\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eIndirect effect\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eEstimated effect\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e95% CI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eLower\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003cth align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eUpper\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/th\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/thead\u003e\n \u003ctbody\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCTQ \u0026rarr; DER \u0026rarr; CBI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0310\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0141\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0500\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCTQ \u0026rarr; ESE \u0026rarr; CBI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0041\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e\u0026ndash;0.0097\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0180\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"left\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eCTQ \u0026rarr; DER \u0026rarr;ESE \u0026rarr; CBI\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0207\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0133\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003ctd align=\"char\"\u003e\n \u003cp\u003e0.0295\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tbody\u003e\n \u003ctfoot\u003e\n \u003ctr\u003e\n \u003ctd colspan=\"4\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e: CTQ\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; DERS\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; ESE\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Emotional Self-efficacy; CBI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. All the estimated indirect effects are standardized. CI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;confidence interval.\u003c/td\u003e\n \u003c/tr\u003e\n \u003c/tfoot\u003e\n \u003c/table\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e\n \u003cp\u003eand student-related burnout was estimated at 0.0310 (95% CI = [0.0141, 0.0500]) which was significant since zero was not included in its 95% CI, whereas zero was included in the 95% CI of the indirect effect of emotional self-efficacy in this relationship. However, the chain mediating effect of difficulties in emotion regulation and emotional self-efficacy was significant (95% CI = [0.0133, 0.0295]). Thus, childhood trauma not only has a direct effect on teachers\u0026rsquo; burnout, but also an indirect effect via the simple mediating effect of emotion regulation difficulties and the chain mediating effect of emotion regulation difficulties and emotional self-efficacy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe aim of this study was to investigate the association between previous traumatic childhood teacher experiences and the risk of student-related burnout by examining the possible mediating role of emotional dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy. Our study found a significant and positive association between teachers' previous traumatic experiences and student-related burnout. Our data seems to be in line with some recent findings [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e22\u003c/span\u003e], which found a link between previous traumatic experiences and job-related burnout in teachers. Overall, then, our study seems to support the idea that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in childhood are at higher risk of reporting burnout, probably because such developmental experiences have undermined the victim's ability to cope with stress, making them more vulnerable to occupational burnout. However, our study extended the current state of knowledge by specifically examining the relationship between prior traumatic experiences in childhood and student-related burnout, a specific dimension of job-related burnout in K-12 teachers [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e8\u003c/span\u003e]. This finding is important not only because the dyadic relationship with students and classroom management are among the main stressors in teachers' daily work [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e], but also because teachers who report previous traumatic experiences tend to report more negative relationships with their students [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e14\u003c/span\u003e], which could reinforce the perception of the relationship with students as a source of stress and negative emotions, thus increasing the risk of burnout [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e55\u003c/span\u003e]. Finally, a negative teacher-student relationship can have a negative impact on students' psychological adjustment and classroom climate, creating a potential vicious cycle that exacerbates the teacher's negative feelings and perceived level of stress in the relationship with students.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur study also sought to expand knowledge about the role of two possible mediating factors in the relationship between prior childhood traumatic experiences and student-related burnout in teachers, namely emotional dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy. Regarding the possible mediating role of these two factors, our hypotheses were only partially confirmed. Regarding emotional dysregulation, our data supports the hypothesis of a possible mediating role of emotional dysregulation in the relationship between previous traumatic experiences in childhood and student-related burnout in teachers. The data are consistent with previous literature identifying emotional dysregulation in adults because of childhood victimization experiences [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR30\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e30\u003c/span\u003e]. In addition, recent studies have found an association between emotional dysregulation and general measures of burnout in teachers [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e]. Our findings therefore appear to be consistent with previous research and extend the current literature by demonstrating a significant positive association between emotional dysregulation and student-related burnout in teachers. As we have argued previously, teachers tend to perceive their relationship with their students as a major source of stress [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e7\u003c/span\u003e]. Research suggests that individuals with high levels of emotion regulation cope better with stress [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e35\u003c/span\u003e] and prove to be more resilient to stressors, which may translate into a lower risk of burnout [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR33\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e33\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e34\u003c/span\u003e]. In addition, teachers with high levels of emotion regulation tend to report more positive relationships with their students [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e36\u003c/span\u003e], and this could therefore reduce stressors related to relationships with students and classroom management, considering that a more positive quality of teacher-student relationship tends to be associated with a more positive classroom climate and better psychological adjustment of students [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e15\u003c/span\u003e]. Given the close association between childhood victimization and emotional dysregulation, our study is also the first to find evidence for a possible mediating role of emotional dysregulation in the relationship between prior traumatic childhood experiences and student-related burnout in teachers. In this direction, the data show that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in their childhood tend to be more dysregulated, which in turn is associated with increased burnout. This finding is interesting considering that there is evidence that teachers are sensitive to previous traumatic experiences [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR56\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e56\u003c/span\u003e]. It is therefore possible that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in their childhood are at an increased risk of developing student-related burnout as they have lower emotional regulation skills. Since emotional dysregulation is primarily related to difficulties in modulating negative emotions, it is possible that teachers with previous traumatic childhood experiences are less able to regulate negative emotions when prompted by a conflictual and unsynchronized relationship with students and therefore feel overwhelmed by negative emotions and are at higher risk of reporting burnout, especially student-related burnout.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHowever, regarding the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy, our data is only partially confirmed. Some previous findings had shown an association between emotional self-efficacy and job burnout in some occupational groups [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e45\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR46\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e46\u003c/span\u003e], but no study had yet considered teachers. Our study is therefore the first to arrive at similar data and find a negative association between emotional self-efficacy and burnout, particularly student-related burnout, in teachers. When a teacher is dealing with difficult students, such as students with severe disabilities, psychological disorders or victims of traumatic experiences, they may be more likely to report negative emotions, which in turn could increase distress and emotional exhaustion, leading to an increased risk of burnout [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e55\u003c/span\u003e]. Emotional self-efficacy, and thus the belief that one can effectively manage negative emotions in stressful situations, seems to be an important skill to avoid feeling overwhelmed by negative emotions and to reduce stress [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e44\u003c/span\u003e, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR45\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e45\u003c/span\u003e], leading to a protective factor for burnout. Our data seem to point in this direction, but in contrast to previous literature demonstrating an association between ACEs and emotional self-efficacy [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e48\u003c/span\u003e], our data failed to identify such a relationship in our sample. This finding is curious and warrants further investigation in the future, even considering that literature seems to have focused primarily on the relationship between traumatic experiences and general measures of self-efficacy.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough our data did not identify childhood trauma as a predictor of emotional self-efficacy, our study shows that the relationship between childhood trauma and emotional self-efficacy appears to be mediated by emotional dysregulation. Specifically, previous traumatic experiences in childhood are associated with an increase in emotional dysregulation, which in turn is associated with a decrease in emotional self-efficacy. Emotional regulation and emotional self-efficacy are closely related constructs and are likely to have a bidirectional relationship [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e43\u003c/span\u003e]. It is possible that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in childhood tend to report lower emotion regulation skills. Along these lines, poor emotion regulation skills tend to predict lower emotional self-efficacy, likely because difficulties in emotion regulation led the subject to perceive that they are unable to manage their negative emotions [\u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e50\u003c/span\u003e]. Furthermore, our data show the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy in the relationship between emotional dysregulation and student-related burnout. This could indicate that teachers with low emotion regulation skills tend to develop a low belief that they can regulate their emotions. This could lead them to amplify stressful situations and feel ineffective in relation to negative emotions, resulting in them becoming overwhelmed by stress and increasing the risk of developing burnout.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eUltimately, our study seems to suggest that K-12 teachers who have experienced traumatic childhood experiences tend to report greater emotional dysregulation, which in turn is associated with lower emotional self-efficacy, which in turn is associated with a decreased risk of student-related burnout. Overall, we can start from the consideration that the relationship with students is one of the main sources of stress for teachers, especially when it triggers negative emotions in the teacher, which puts the teacher at greater risk of developing burnout. Under this premise, it becomes clear how important it is for teachers to develop skills to cope with and manage stressful situations, especially in emotional terms. In this sense, the ability to regulate negative emotions and the belief that one can manage emotionally stressful situations seem to be two important factors that reduce the teacher's risk of reporting burnout in the context of the relationship with the student. Knowing how to regulate emotions and believing that one is in control of one's emotions could make the teacher feel more effective in dealing with emotionally stressful situations, thus reducing the risk of feeling overwhelmed by negative emotions and thus the risk of burnout, especially student-related burnout. However, our data seems to indicate that teachers who have had traumatic experiences in their childhood report a deterioration in their emotional functioning. In particular, previous traumatic childhood experiences appear to increase emotional dysregulation, which in turn may create a belief in the individual that they are unable to manage their own emotions, making the teacher more vulnerable to stress and therefore at greater risk of student-related burnout.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec18\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003eLimitations and Future Directions\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe data presented here must be read with careful consideration of the limitations of the study. First, the study adopted a cross-sectional approach, which prevents us from understanding linear causal links in the relationship between the constructs. This can be investigated in future studies using a longitudinal approach. Furthermore, although we were able to recruit a large sample of K-12 teachers, our sample cannot be said to be representative of the Italian teacher population, which limits the generalizability of our results. Future studies could therefore use representative samples of the Italian teacher population. In addition, cross-cultural comparisons could shed light on possible differences from a cultural perspective. Finally, we used self-report instruments, so our results could be influenced by aspects such as text comprehension, social desirability and memory. Future studies could therefore incorporate new survey instruments or involve third-party observers. Finally, future analyzes could consider specific forms of traumatic experiences and enrich the model with additional variables that could explain the association between childhood traumatic experiences and burnout (in general or specifically in relation to the teacher-student relationship).\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec19\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003ePractical implications\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite the limitations described, our study opens up possible practical implications for the well-being of teachers at all school levels. First of all, it is important to sensitize teachers to how their own past traumatic childhood experiences may influence their psychological well-being and, in particular, the risk of reporting student-related burnout. Furthermore, we believe that promoting individual well-being and self-care is an element that should be included in trauma-informed professional development. In this sense, schools should create a welcoming setting for individuals who have experienced ACEs and provide opportunities for teachers to work with a specialist (e.g., a school psychologist) to develop an awareness of how trauma impacts emotional and interpersonal functioning in the present and initiate appropriate treatment strategies. In addition, school psychologists and practitioners working with teachers should consider investigating previous trauma experiences in teachers who exhibit burnout or difficulty working with students and classes. In addition, the school system should invest in developing a culture of stress management and establish initiatives and services that can help teachers develop their emotion regulation skills and increase their emotional self-efficacy, especially if they have experienced trauma in childhood.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAcknowledgment\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEthics approval and consent to participate\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Turin. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDeclaration of Competing Interest.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFundings\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study wasn\u0026rsquo;t funded.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eInformed consent\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInformed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConsent for publication\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot Applicable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCode availability.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor this research we used SPSS 29 software available from our university.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailability of data\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthors\u0026rsquo; Contributions\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMAF: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing-original draft, Writing-reviewing \u0026amp; editing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSL: Writing-original draft, Writing-reviewing \u0026amp; editing, Formal analysis.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCL: Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision, Writing-reviewing \u0026amp; editing.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\n \u003cli\u003eMadigan DJ, Kim LE, Glandorf HL, Kavanagh O. 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Children and Youth Services Review. 2020;111:104877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104877.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-psychology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"psyo","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Psychology](http://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"BMC Psychology","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"teachers, childhood traumatic experiences, emotional self-efficacy, burnout, student-teacher relationship, emotion dysregulation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7410981/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7410981/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTeachers are a risk group for developing burnout, especially student-related burnout. However, the associated risk factors have hardly been researched. Our cross-sectional study investigates the possible association between previous traumatic childhood experiences and student-related burnout risk and the possible mediating role of emotional self-efficacy and emotional dysregulation. Participants is Italian K-12 teachers (\u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e = 1203; females: 88.1%; age: \u003cem\u003eM\u003c/em\u003e= 46.93; \u003cem\u003eSD\u003c/em\u003e = 10.22). Teachers completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire that included information about previous childhood traumatic experiences, emotional dysregulation, self-efficacy, and student-related burnout. The data show that teachers who report previous traumatic experiences tend to have a higher risk of student-related burnout. This relationship was also mediated by emotional dysregulation. Furthermore, emotional self-efficacy mediated the relationship between emotional dysregulation and student-related burnout, but not the relationship between a teacher's previous traumatic experiences in childhood and student-related burnout. Thus, our data seems to suggest that teachers with prior traumatic experiences are more likely to report a higher risk of student-related burnout and that measures of their ability to regulate emotions and feel effective in managing emotions contribute to their risk of reporting burnout associated with their relationship with students. Limitations, practical implications and future directions for research are described.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Investigating the link between teachers’ childhood trauma and student-related burnout: The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and emotional self-efficacy","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-03 01:00:58","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7410981/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-09-30T20:36:13+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"97822960087687086712819092029739222903","date":"2025-09-29T15:17:39+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"31971358421027349213862118483409189890","date":"2025-09-22T09:52:06+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"64208819748385931031266799524557938923","date":"2025-09-22T09:18:52+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-19T12:07:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-09-17T05:38:41+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-01T07:15:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-08-30T09:37:33+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"BMC Psychology","date":"2025-08-30T09:33:54+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-psychology","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"psyo","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Psychology](http://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"BMC Psychology","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e6a912c4-a5fe-433d-9d00-ed76d4fbd733","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 3rd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-10-03T01:00:58+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-03 01:00:58","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7410981","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7410981","identity":"rs-7410981","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}