Domain-Specific Social and Emotional Competencies and Perceived Stress Among Estonian Teachers

Teaching involves high emotional and cognitive demands that can contribute to teacher stress and affect professional functioning. We examined how domain-specific aspects of teachers’ self-rated social and emotional competencies (SEC) are related to perceived stress. Drawing on the CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) framework, we assessed five SEC domains (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, responsible decision-making) among Estonian primary and secondary school teachers (N = 528). Perceived stress was assessed using the Estonian version of the Perceived Stress Scale. Correlation analyses showed that higher levels of overall self-rated SEC and all five domains were significantly associated with lower perceived stress. A multiple linear regression model including all five domains explained 11% of the variance in perceived stress; within this model, self-management and self-awareness showed unique negative associations with it. Further, logistic regression focusing on teachers in the upper range of perceived stress indicated that lower self-management was associated with higher odds of belonging to this higher-stress subgroup. These findings suggest that self-management and self-awareness play an important role in teachers’ stress experiences when SEC is examined as a multidimensional construct. Impact Statement This study contributes to research on teacher well-being by examining domain-specific associations between teachers’ SEC and perceived stress using a validated multidimensional SEC self-assessment tool. By distinguishing among five SEC domains, the study examines their relative associations with teachers’ perceived stress while accounting for shared variance among the domains. Self-management and self-awareness showed unique associations with continuous perceived stress, whereas only self-management was significantly associated with membership in the comparatively higher-stress group. Drawing on a large, nationally diverse sample of Estonian teachers, the study provides evidence that may inform future research and broader approaches to supporting teachers’ coping with stress and professional well-being.