Educators coping with stress: Mentalizing and attachment as resources for elementary educators

The quality of the educator-child relationship as well as the ability to mentalize appear to be protective factors against stress that can improve the well-being of elementary educators given their high workload. Educators who have positive mental models of relationships experience more positive affect in their inter­actions with children, which promotes their well-being. Moreover, an appropriate perception of mental states allows for a more constructive approach to stressful situations, even in the presence of insecure in­ternal working models of relationships, because negative affect can be identified and regulated. In a study of prospective elementary educators (N = 216), we observed the expected correlations between attachment behavior and mentalization ability with well-being and stress levels. Mediation analyses showed that men­talization capacity partially explained the influence of attachment behavior on stress and well-being. The results suggest that mentalization training could support well-being and improve the abilities of elementary educators in stressful conditions.