Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships among child care teachers' role conflict, organizational commitment and teacher's sensitivity. It also aimed to test the mediating effect of organizational commitment on the pathway from child care teachers' role conflict on teacher's sensitivity. Methods: A self-report survey was conducted on 301 child care teachers in Chungbuk. Descriptive, means, standard deviations, correlations using SPSS 18.0, and Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS 18.0 were all conducted in order to analyze the collected data. Results: The results indicated that child care teachers' role conflict and organizational commitment had significant direct effects on teacher's sensitivity. This study also confirmed the significant mediating role of organizational commitment on the pathway from child care teachers' role conflict to sensitivity. Conclusion/Implications: The significance of role conflict and organizational commitment suggests that the integration of individuals with less conflict and more dedication will contribute more qualitative child care services by improving sensitive interactions with young children.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the six-week educare practicum revised in 2017 and perception of the effects of the change on public child care training centers. Methods: Surveys were conducted on the directors and teachers from national public child care centers within Seoul. And in-depth interviews were conducted on six participants. Results: Firstly, public child care training centers had generally received trainees through industry-academy partnership schools, and had planned to receive the same number of trainees as in the previous system. They had trained according to their planned program, and self-evaluation had also been conducted on a regular basis. Additionally, they perceived that the quality control of the centers was carried out by the trainees. Secondly, they perceived that the new system would improve the professionalism of the teachers and have a positive effect on their personality issues and the reliability of the evaluation accreditation institute. Hence, it was believed that it would help to develop the professional knowledge and qualifications of first-time teachers. Conclusion/Implications: The results showed that the public child care training centers recognized that the six-week educare practicum would enhance the professionalism and quality of teachers, and the child care operation management.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of early childhood teacher-led child-centered group play therapy on young children's sociability. The changes of sociability in the therapeutic process were also examined. Methods: The subjects of this study were 12 young children who were five years old and attended a child care center in Gangwon-do. Subjects were divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received 15 early childhood teacher-led child-centered group play therapy sessions twice a week. The sociability scale was used for pre-post tests and the data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0. Every session was video-taped and recorded verbatim. Qualitative data were analyzed to examine changes in sociability. Results: Children who participated in the early childhood teacher-led child-centered group play therapy demonstrated significant improvement in sociability. During the therapy sessions, children's expressions and behaviors associated with sociability gradually increased. Conclusion/Implications: This study supports the use of early childhood teacher-led child-centered group play therapy as an effective intervention strategy for young children to improve their sociability.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of parent- teacher communication on childcare teacher's job stress and turnover intention. This study also examined if the level of active stress coping used functions as a moderator in relationships among parent-teacher communication, childcare teacher's job stress, and their turnover intention. Methods: To achieve this, this study used data from 223 surveys from childcare teachers and analyzed the data with SEM and multi-group SEM analysis methods. Results: First, parent-childcare teacher communication influenced the teacher's turover intention through job stress. Second, the effect of parent-childcare teacher communication on job stress was not found in the higher-level of the active stress coping group. This was different from the significant effect in the lower-level of the active stress coping group. Also, parent-childcare teacher communication influenced teacher's turnover intention through job stress in the lower-level of the active stress coping group. In contrast, the mediation effect was not shown in the higher group. Conclusion/Implications: The results of this study show the effect of parent-childcare teacher communication on teacher's job stress and their turnover intention. Also, this study shows that the level of active stress coping could moderate the relationship among parent-childcare teacher communication, teacher's job stress, and their turnover intention.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between child care teachers' mindfulness, burnout, and sensitivity. Also, the effects of child care teachers' mindfulness on teacher sensitivity, including the mediating effects of burnout, were investigated. Methods: A total of 263 child care teachers who work in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon participated in this study. Data were analyzed by correlations and regressions using SPSS 21.0. Results: First, there were significant correlations between child care teachers' mindfulness, burnout and teacher sensitivity. Second, the relationship between mindfulness and teacher sensitivity was partially mediated by burnout. To be specific, mindfulness not only had a direct effect on teacher sensitivity, but also had an indirect effect on teacher sensitivity through burnout. Among the three dimensions of burnout, the decrease of personal accomplishments had the biggest significant mediation effect on the relationship between mindfulness and teacher sensitivity. Conclusion/Implications: In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of mindfulness in reducing burnout and enhancing teacher sensitivity toward children. Also, this research has implications for future research regarding the mindfulness of child care teachers and offers a foundation for the development of mindfulness training programs for child care teachers.

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the current status of parent-child play and the relationship between children's perceptions of play with parents and children's happiness. Methods: One hundred twenty 5-year-old children and their parents participated in the study. Each parent reported the current status of play with their child and the researchers interviewed the children about their perceptions of play with parents and their happiness. Results: The results showed that parents played with their child for about 52 minutes on weekdays and 2-3 hours on weekends. Mothers played longer with their child than fathers on all days. Parents perceived that they played with their child at average frequency and showed above average participation. Children perceived that their parents were actively playing with them and children enjoyed and were satisfied with their play with parents. Children were happier when parents spent more time playing with them in an engaging fashion, and when they enjoyed the nature of the play. Conclusion/Implications: This study implies the influence and importance of the quality of parent-child play on children's happiness.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of parental humor style on their children's emotional expressiveness. Methods: Parental humor styles and their children's emotional expressiveness were measured in 306 parents and their 153 young children enrolled in a infant educational institution located in Seoul and Gyeong-gi Province. A total of 459 subjects participated in this study. The data were used in producing basic statistics and a t-test and regression analysis with SPSS 21.0 program were performed. Results: First, parents with young children were found to use humor above the medium level in interaction with their children, especially societal humor. Second, societal, self-expansive, and self-defeating humors used by mother were found to predict children's emotional expressiveness, while the humor used by fathers was found to have no effect on children's emotional expressiveness. Conclusion/Implications: The parental use of humor is a common phenomenon these days and is aimed at creating more intimate parent-child interaction. In addition, it was found that mother's humorous interaction can bring about positive emotional expressiveness in her child.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of fathers' playfulness and play participation on preschoolers' peer competence. Methods: The participants in the study were 325 preschoolers and their fathers. The survey method was used to investigate fathers' playfulness, fathers' average level of play participation as well as playtime with their children and preschoolers' peer competence. In order to analyze the data, one-way ANOVA and regression analysis were utilized. Results: The results showed that fathers' playfulness and play participation were different according to the fathers' weekly working hours. It was found that the higher the cheerfulness of the sub-factors of fathers' playfulness was, the higher the sociability of sub-factors of preschoolers' peer competence was. The amount of fathers' play time with children as well as the average level of play participation, which is the qualitative aspect of fathers' play participation, was found to affect preschoolers' peer competence and the three sub-factors of competence. Conclusion/Implications: The findings implied that fathers' active play participation with children is important and that there is a need to improve working conditions in order for fathers to have time to play with their children.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop assessment indicators and to verify the validity and reliability of the developed assessment indicators. Methods: A Delphi survey, focus group interviews, and content verification were conducted in order for experts to develop an evaluation index of the strengths of the day care center. A main survey was conducted on 438 daycare center principals and teachers to test their item quality, validity and reliability. Results: The final assessment indicators consisted of three areas, seven assessment criteria, 19 evaluation factors, 41 assessment items and a five-point rubric rating scale. As for the common strengths indicators, there were three assessment areas, five assessment criteria, 12 assessment elements and 22 assessment items. In regard to the selective strengths indicators, there were 3 assessment areas, 5 assessment criteria, 12 assessment elements and 16 assessment items. Conclusion/Implications: The efforts to confirm the strengths of daycare centers are expected to facilitate the identity building of the daycare center itself and for its organizational members to make a contribution to the qualitative improvement of childcare.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the influence of child care center managers' coaching leadership on teachers' motivational self-concepts via middle managers' coaching leadership. Teachers' motivational self-concepts consisted of personal self-concept and social self-concept. Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted on 475 child care center teachers regarding teachers' recognition of the coaching leadership of managers and middle managers and motivational self-concepts of teachers. To analyze the collected data, the path was examined through descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, structural analysis using Amos, and the mediating effect was confirmed by conducting the Sobel Test. Results: The middle manager's coaching leadership was found to mediate the pathways from the manager's coaching leadership to the teacher's social self-concept, but did not mediate the personal self-concept of teachers. Conclusion/Implications: This study showed that the manager's coaching leadership was mediated by the middle manager's coaching leadership and that the manager's coaching leadership had an influence on the social self-concept of teachers. These results imply that both managers and middle managers need to develop coaching leadership skills in order to improve the motivational self-concept of teachers, which is important for work efficiency at child care centers.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the mediating effect of mothers' parenting stress on the relationship between their self-differentiation and the tendency of addiction to social media. Methods: The participants in this study were two hundred and eight mothers with children aged 36 months or younger. Data were analyzed statistically using frequency, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Results: The results of the present study are as follows. First, the mothers' self-differentiation was negatively associated with their parenting stress and social media addiction tendency. Second, both the total scores of the mothers' parenting stress and their distress were found to partially mediate the relationship between their self-differentiation and social media addiction tendency. However, the mothers' daily stress did not mediate the relationship between the variables. Conclusion/Implications: The findings of the current study have implications for developing ways of intervening in mothers' social media addiction tendency by reducing their parenting stress, particularly for mothers with low levels of self-differentiation.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore and analyze the way pre-service early childhood teachers think about teacher happiness through metaphor analysis. Methods: A total of 225 pre-service teachers were selected from 4-year universities in the Gyeongnam area and open questionnaires were distributed to the participants. A total of 207 out of the 225 questionnaires were selected for the study. Results: First, based on psychological well-being, positive interpersonal relationship, self-acceptance, autonomy, environmental control, and life purpose were derived. Pre-service early childhood teachers typified teacher happiness into five types: positive interpersonal relationships, self-acceptance, autonomy, environmental control, and life purpose. Second, pre-service early childhood teachers perceived teacher happiness as positive. Third, pre-service early childhood teachers perceived interpersonal relationships, self-acceptance, and purpose of life as positive, while environmental control and autonomy were perceived as negative. Conclusion/Implications: The results of this study suggest that it is necessary to improve the quality of teachers' education and to develop a program to raise positive awareness of future early childhood teachers. These study results can also be used as basic data for high quality teacher education.

Objective: This study aims to analyze the research trend of domestic child care education, and to seek directions for future research related to child care education based on analysis results. Methods: A total of 91 theses were selected in journals released in Korea from January 2006 to August 2018. The analysis standards for the research trend were established as research period, theme, target and method. Results: First, the amount of research on child care education has gradually increased since 2006. Second, action research for improvement was the most common research theme for child care education, while activities utilizing fairy tales and picture books were the most frequently used education activities. Third, research that targeted five-year-olds accounted for the largest part of research. Fourth, when it came to research type, most research was based on quantitative research. Conclusion/Implications: Based on the analysis results above, the direction for the development of future child care education and relevant research was discussed.

Objective: The purpose of this research was to examine the moderating effect of children's negative emotionality on the relationship between maternal attitude toward children's emotional expression based on the differential susceptibility model. Methods: Participants were 216 preschool children including 116 boys and 100 girls from day care centers and preschools located in Chungchung province and Seoul. EAS was used to measure the children's negative emotionality. The children's empathy quotient was used to measure empathy. Mothers reported their attitude toward children's emotional expression. Results: The results revealed that the association between empathy and maternal suppression of children's emotional expression was significant only for the children with high levels of negative emotionality. Moreover, the magnitude of association between empathy and maternal acceptance of children's emotional expression was greater for high levels of negative emotionality. Conclusion/Implications: It was concluded that these findings supported the differential susceptibility model.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between child care teachers' emotional intelligence, communicative competence, and job stress. Methods: Four hundred and fifty child care teachers answered questionnaires on three research variables. Data were analyzed by correlation analyses and regression analyses. Results: First, child care teachers' emotional intelligence, i.e. self-emotion appraisal, others' emotion appraisal, uses of emotion, and regulation of emotion, were negatively related to job stress. Second, child care teachers' emotional intelligence, i.e. self-emotion appraisal, others' emotion appraisal, uses of emotion, and regulation of emotion, were positively associated with communicative competence. Third, child care teachers' communicative competence was negatively linked to job stress. Lastly, child care teachers' communicative competence partially mediated the relationship between self-emotion appraisal, others' emotion appraisal, regulation of emotion, and job stress, and child care teachers' communicative competence fully mediated the relationship between uses of emotion and job stress. Conclusion/Implications: This study suggests that high emotional intelligence and effective communication are important in order to reduce child care teachers' job stress.