The association of perceived mattering and emotions with physical educator teacher resilience

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among teachers’ perceived mattering, their identified emotional experiences while teaching, and their self-reported teacher resilience. Perceptions of teacher mattering and teacher emotions were examined as characteristics that may directly and indirectly be associated with teacher resilience. Physical educators (N = 379; M age  = 42.44; 54% male; 46% female) participated in a cross-sectional survey. The participants had been teaching physical education (PE) for an average of 16 years, with approximately 68% holding an advanced degree. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to explore hypothesized relationships among the following variables: perceived mattering (i.e. physical education mattering, teacher mattering), teacher emotions (i.e. enjoyment, anger, anxiety), and teacher resilience. Results showed that perceptions of physical education mattering were related to perceived teacher mattering. Subsequently, teacher mattering was associated with teacher enjoyment and anxiety, which were then linked positively and negatively to resilience, respectively. No direct relationship was identified between mattering and resilience, but indirect relations via emotions were found. Thus, emotions appeared to mediate the perceived mattering-resilience relationship. Both environmental and personal variables should be considered when studying teachers’ psychosocial skills in navigating workplace contexts. Enjoyment may buffer marginality beliefs and enhance resilience in day-to-day teaching. The characteristics of having or developing resilience appear to be founded somewhat in emotional experiences which, in turn, have shown strong links with actions, beliefs, and behaviors among teachers.