The Differences of the Influence of Adult Attachment on their Self-compassion of Teachers in the Early Childhood Education and Care According to Types of Stress Coping

The purpose of this study is to investigate differences in the adult attachment and self-compassion l evels of early childhood teachers according to their stress coping style, the effect of adult attachmen t on self-compassion, and differences in the effect of adult attachment on self-compassion in early c hildhood teachers according to their stress coping style. The survey was conducted with 490 early c hildhood teachers who had been working as homeroom teachers or assistant teachers at daycare cen ters and kindergartens in Korea. Data was analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program with descriptive s tatistics, frequency analysis, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé's post hoc test, and the Pearson product-mo ment correlation coefficient. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis and multiple group analysis wer e performed using the AMOS 25.0. The results of this study are as follows: First, regarding the diff erences between adult attachment and self-compassion levels in the early childhood teachers, signific ant differences were found according to their stress coping styles, including task-oriented, emotion-o riented, and avoidance-oriented styles. Adult attachment levels showed significant differences in emo tion-, task-, and avoidance-oriented styles. Self-compassion levels also showed significant difference s in all three types. Second, the adult attachment levels of the survey participants with task- and a voidance-oriented coping styles showed a significant positive effect on self-compassion. In addition, the effect of the early childhood teachers’ adult attachment on self-compassion showed a significant difference according to their stress coping style; the adult attachment of the group with a task-orien ted coping style had a greater effect on self-compassion than that with an avoidance-oriented copin g style. This implies that the formation of stable adult attachment in early childhood teachers increa ses self-compassion levels and that task-oriented coping style further enhances such an effect.