Does the School Context Play a Role in Teachers' Emotion Regulation and Mental Health? A Comparison of Teachers in Primary and Lower Educational Standard Schools

ABSTRACT The research compares teachers working in regular primary schools with those working in special primary schools (for students with mild intellectual disabilities) regarding their emotion regulation strategies and their self‐assessed mental health. The sample consisted of 114 Slovenian teachers from regular schools and 60 teachers from special schools, who participated by completing questionnaires on emotion regulation strategies and general health. The quantitative methodological approach was supplemented by qualitative data gathered via interviews with three teachers from each school context. When comparing the two school contexts, it was found that teachers in regular schools more often avoided specific emotion‐triggering situations, while teachers in special schools tended to seek social support more frequently. Compared to regular school teachers, special school teachers reported more difficulties regarding their feeling of usefulness and self‐confidence, experienced different emotions, and used a combination of emotion regulation strategies within a given emotion‐triggering situation.