Exploring teacher–child relationships in Head Start: Associations with teachers’ secondary traumatic stress, resilience, and emotion regulation

Given the unique challenges faced by Head Start teachers, who work with children at high risk for adversity and trauma, this study examined how teachers’ experienced stressors (i.e., secondary traumatic stress [STS]) and protective factors (i.e., resilience and emotion regulation) are related to teacher–child relationships. A total of 166 Head Start teachers participated in the study. Results from the multilevel modelling revealed a positive association between teachers’ use of cognitive reappraisal emotion regulation and teacher–child closeness. Conversely, teachers’ STS and expressive suppression were positively associated with teacher–child conflicts, while resilience was negatively related to conflicts. These findings suggest the importance of relieving teachers’ STS and enhancing their resilience and healthy emotion regulation skills to improve teacher–child relationships.