Pre-service teachers' attitudes toward early childhood sexuality education as a mediator between knowledge and teaching self-efficacy: gender as a moderator

Introduction With the global advancement of sexuality education, educators' professional preparedness has become essential to improving its quality and sustainability. In early childhood education, teachers' knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy significantly influence children's developing concepts of sexuality. However, while much research focuses on in-service teachers, limited attention has been given to pre-service teachers, who are future implementers of sexuality education. To address this gap, the present study developed and validated a mediation model based on Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, focusing on examining how attitudes mediate the relationship between pre-service teachers' knowledge of sexuality education and their teaching self-efficacy, and how gender moderates this pathway. Methods A quantitative approach was adopted using a cluster sampling method, data were collected from 458 Chinese pre-service teachers majoring in early childhood education. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the model. Result Findings revealed that attitudes significantly mediated the knowledge-self-efficacy relationship, and gender moderated this mediation effect, with effect among females is higher than that of males. Discussion These results contribute to the theoretical understanding of pre-service teacher development in sexuality education and offer practical implications for designing gender-sensitive teacher training programs. The study supports the development of targeted policies and instructional support systems aimed at enhancing professional competencies in delivering early childhood sexuality education.