Teachers’ Heart Rate Variability and Behavioral Reactions in Aggressive Interactions: Teachers Can Downregulate Their Physiological Arousal, and Progesterone Favors Social Integrative Teacher Responses

Autor: Alexander Wettstein, Sonja Krähling, Gabriel Jenni, Ida Schneider, Fabienne Kühne, Martin grosse Holtforth, Roberto La Marca
Jazyk: English<br />Spanish; Castilian
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, Vol 14, Iss 8, Pp 2230-2247 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2254-9625
2174-8144
DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe14080149
Popis: Aggressive student behavior is considered one of the main risk factors for teacher stress. The present study investigated teachers’ physiological and behavioral reactions when facing aggressive student behavior and examined which resources favor adaptive teacher reactions. The sample included 42 teachers. We assessed (a) teacher self-reports (i.e., resources, risk factors, and vital exhaustion) (b) classroom observations, (c) ambulatory assessments of teachers’ heart rate and heart rate variability, and (d) teachers’ progesterone concentrations in the hair. The present study focused on a subsample of ten teachers (9 females, Mage = 34.70, SD = 11.32) managing classes which were potentially very stressful as they had a high density of aggressive behavior. High levels of work satisfaction, hair progesterone, and a low level of work overload fostered social integrative teacher responses. Moreover, in 75% of the cases, teachers succeeded in downregulating their physiological reaction. Our results support the notion that teachers evaluate stressors in light of their resources. When they perceive their resources as insufficient for coping with a challenging situation, stress arises, and subsequently, they react inefficiently to aggressive behavior. Thus, teacher education could benefit from strengthening teacher resources and strategies for coping with aggressive student behavior.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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