Teacher emotion regulation strategies in response to classroom misbehavior

This research examined how teachers regulate their emotions in the context of student misbehaviour and what the affective consequence of this regulation is for teachers. In Study 1 we descriptively examined which strategies teachers use to regulate their emotions in response to student misbehaviour and found that teachers use a variety of strategies to regulate their emotions. In Study 2, using an Experience Sampling Method, we examined how teachers’ trait-level emotion regulation impacts their in-the-moment affective experiences and modulation strategies in the context of classroom misbehaviours. Results indicate that teachers who typically reappraise have the least negative affective experiences in the context of student misbehaviour and are less likely to suppress their in-the-moment negative emotions. This study adds to our understanding of how teachers could regulate their negative emotions when dealing with student misbehaviour in an adaptive way. Findings signify the importance of examining the efficacy of other regulation strategies.