Special education teachers’ relationships with students and self-efficacy moderate associations between classroom-level disruptive behaviors and emotional exhaustion

This study examined the moderating role of teachers’ relationship with students and their self-efficacy in the association between classroom-level disruptive behaviors and emotional exhaustion. Two measurement occasions were completed by 98 teachers from fourteen Dutch special education schools for adolescent students with psychiatric disabilities. Results show that by the end of the school year, teachers with high levels of closeness and self-efficacy reported increases in emotional exhaustion as a function of classroom-level disruptive behaviors, which is in line with research conducted in general education studies. Unexpectedly, emotional exhaustion decreased in low-involved teachers experiencing more classroom disruption.

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