Roles of School-Context and Goal Orientation on Emotion Regulation amongst Turkish Middle-school STEM Teachers. A Structural Equation Modeling Study

Background Emotion regulation addresses how individuals regulate and monitor their emotion. Although the role of personal characteristics on emotion regulation has been well studied, there is a need for examination the role of school-contextual variables including support, discipline problems, autonomy and recognition and goal orientation in emotion regulation. Methods Data from 242 STEM teachers in fifty middle schools in Turkey were collected through Teacher Emotional Control Scale, Teacher Goal Orientation scale and School Contextual Scale in the spring 2022 semester. A Structural Equation Modelling approach, allows examining the direct and indirect causal relations among variables, was used to address the research questions. Results Results of SEM showed that the hypothesized model had an acceptable fit with data. The hypothesized model could be accounted for 52.2% of variance in emotion regulation. Whereas mastery goal orientation positively predicted emotion regulation, performance goal orientation negatively contributed to emotion regulation. School contextual variables were directly related to goal orientation and indirectly emotion regulation through goal orientation. Conclusion The socio-cultural environment in the schools are important determinants of how teachers regulate and control their emotions. Moreover, the path coefficients between goal orientation and emotion regulation underscore that what teachers want to accomplish in their work greatly contribute to how they regulate their emotions.