The Mediating Effect of Teacher-Child Interaction on the Effect of Children's Self-Regulation on Empathy Ability

Objectives The purpose of this study is to empirically verify the mediating effect of teacher-child interaction in the effect of young children's self-regulation, teacher-child interaction, structural relationship between young children's empathy ability, and young children's self-regulation on empathy ability. Methods For this purpose, 341 5-year-old children and 82 homeroom teachers of children attending private kindergartens located in G metropolitan city were selected as research subjects, and self-regulation of children was selected as an independent variable, teacher-child interaction as a mediating variable, and young children's empathy ability as a dependent variable. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS & AMOS program for reliability verification, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and covariance structure analysis. Results The structural relationship among young children's self-regulation, teacher-child interaction, and young children's empathy ability was found to be appropriate, indicating that young children's self-regulation and teacher-child interaction are important variables to explain young children's empathy ability. In addition, teacher-child interaction was found to have a significant effect as a partial mediator in the relationship between young children's self-regulation and empathy ability. Conclusions Teachers play a very important role in strengthening children's self-regulation and empathy ability through the Nuri curriculum. Therefore, early childhood teachers should seek ways to continuously pursue linguistic, emotional, and behavioral interactions with young children in various Nuri curriculum activities.