Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Quality not quantity? Effects of social network ties and perceptions of relationships on educator wellbeing (#146)

Rachel F Cann 1 , Claire Sinnema 1 , Alan Daly 2 , Joelle Rodway 3 , Yi-Hwa Liou 4
  1. Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
  2. Department of Education Studies, University of California, San Diego, California, United States
  3. Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada
  4. Department of Educational Management, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, China

Positive relationships are an important dimension of wellbeing (Seligman, 2011). Within schools, positive relationships have been identified as a critical aspect of school climates that promote wellbeing (Jennings et al., 2019). Yet, studies of educator wellbeing often focus on the individual, and there is a paucity of studies that focus on how educators’ relationships within schools affects educator wellbeing. Recently, positive psychology interventions have been criticized for their focus on the individual and calls have been made to consider the broader social context in which an individual is embedded (Kern et al., 2019). This study explored the social context using a systems informed positive psychology approach, utilising social network analysis, in order to examine how educators relationships influence their wellbeing. The study was conducted with educators (n=559) in 12 schools in New Zealand that were part of two communities of learning. Social network measures included educators identifying how frequently they interacted with other educators within the community of learning to seek or provide advice, and educators with whom they identified they have a close relationship. Educators’ wellbeing and perceptions of relationships were measured with a number of scales. Social network analysis and hierarchical blockwise regressions were used to determine how educators’ demographics, perceptions of their school-based relationships, and their social network ties, are associated with educators’ wellbeing. Results show that educators’ perceptions of relationships accounted for the majority of the variation in their wellbeing. When educators perceive supportive, respectful and trusting relationships their wellbeing is higher. However, fewer associations were found between educators’ wellbeing and social network measures that quantified the frequency and number of interactions, and they explained a minimal amount of the variation in wellbeing. Our work suggests that future research into the influence of social networks on wellbeing should focus on the quality of ties present.

  1. Jennings, P. A., Minnici, A., & Yoder, N. (2019). Creating the working conditions to enhance teacher social and emotional well-being. In D. Osher, Mayer, R. J. Jagers, K. Kendziora, & L. Wood (Eds.), Keeping students safe and helping them thrive: A collaborative handbook for education, safety, and justice professionals, families, and communities, Vol. 1, chapter 9 (pp. 210–239). ABC-CLIO.
  2. Kern, M. L., Williams, P., Spong, C., Colla, R., Sharma, K., Downie, A., Taylor, J. A., Sharp, S., Siokou, C., & Oades, L. G. (2019). Systems informed positive psychology. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(6), 705–715. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2019.1639799
  3. Seligman. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understanding of happiness and well-being. Simon and Schuster.
  • Keywords: Education, Relationships, Systems