Professional commitment and satisfaction of teachers in head start within a systemically marginalized community: associations with perceived psychological distress and physical safety

The quality of early care and education (ECE) is related to early childhood teachers’ positive work attitudes, as prior research suggests committed and satisfied educators provide effective support and instruction to children. It is important to understand the relationships between psychological and physical factors in relation to teachers’ commitment and satisfaction, especially those working within systematically marginalized communities. Using a sample of 166 Head Start teachers, predominantly Black/African American with low salaries, the study examined how teacher-perceived psychological distress and physical safety relate to their professional commitment and satisfaction. These Head Start programs were in a systemically marginalized community in the United States. Additionally, the study examined the unique variance explained by teachers’ perceptions of physical safety beyond psychological distress as a predictor of four distinct indicators of professional commitment and satisfaction. Three models using hierarchical linear regression were tested to explore the research questions. The results indicate that teachers’ perceptions of psychological distress and physical safety were significantly associated with their job attitudes. Additionally, teachers’ perceptions of physical safety demonstrated incremental validity above and beyond perceived psychological distress on professional commitment and satisfaction. The relationships between teachers’ psychological distress and distinct indicators of professional commitment and satisfaction were transformed after adding physical safety. This study suggests the importance of ECE teachers’ psychological well-being and physical safety in improving their job attitudes, especially for female African American teachers working in systemically marginalized communities.