Vagal flexibility moderates stress and burnout facets link in early childhood educators.

BACKGROUND: Teachers' well-being is crucial for effective learning environments. This study examined the relation between stress and burnout facets (emotional exhaustion (EE) and personal accomplishment (PA)) among early childhood educators, exploring the moderating role of vagal flexibility (VF; i.e., an index of change in parasympathetic nervous system functioning across time). High VF is theorized to reflect heightened sensitivity to environmental conditions, amplifying contextual effects. We hypothesized that: (1) higher psychological stress will be related to higher EE and lower PA; (2) VF will be associated with burnout facets; and (3) VF will moderate the stress-burnout facets link, with the association being strongest among teachers with high VF.

DESIGN AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 117 early childhood educators completed questionnaires on psychological stress (DASS-21) and sense of professional burnout (MBI-ES). VF was assessed as nonlinear changes in respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA) while participants viewed videos of children exhibiting distress.

RESULTS: Higher psychological stress was related to greater EE, but not to PA. As hypothesized, VF moderated this relation: stress was positively associated with EE only among educators with high VF, but not among those with low VF.

CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the role of dynamic physiological functioning in stress-burnout processes.