Researching Elementary-School Teachers Anger, Frustration and Well-Being. An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Method Study

This study examines how elementary school teachers experience anger, frustration, and well-being differ across relational contexts, using an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design. Qualitative interviews and quantitative analyses reveal that teachers’ emotions are not isolated psychological states but arise through events embedded in their relationships with school administration, colleagues, students, and parents. This research extends previous studies – often grounded solely in psychological theories and relying on either quantitative or qualitative data – by applying Kemper’s micro-sociological theory to uncover the causal complexity underlying emotion activation. Both qualitative and quantitative findings indicate that anger and frustration are generated through specific events occurring in teachers’ relationships with school administration (e.g., anti-institutional behavior) and with parents (e.g., socialization patterns conflicting with school culture). These findings suggest that interventions aimed at improving teacher wellbeing should target the relational and institutional conditions, particularly the governance practices of school administration and the school-family interface, within which negative emotional states are structurally generated.