Jace Pillay

The education of young children constitutes the foundation of their cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioural development. Teacher psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and work engagement are personal resources that may be associated with good teaching practices and child development as perceived by teachers. Using COR theory, this study examined the relationships among teacher psychological capital, emotional intelligence, work engagement, teaching effectiveness, and teacher-reported children's developmental outcomes of early childhood educators in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study employed a correlational research design. A sample of 202 early childhood educators was selected through a multistage sampling process, in which five children per teacher's classroom were selected, resulting in a total of 1,010 children rated using the Early Development Instrument (EDI). The data for the study were gathered using the Psychological Capital Questionnaire, the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Pre-K, and the EDI Teacher Version. The scores of five children per teacher were aggregated to measure teacher-level indicators of child developmental outcomes. Data analysis was done using Pearson product-moment correlation, multiple regression, and hierarchical multiple regression at the 0.05 level of significance. The results indicated significant positive correlations among the research variables. Psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and work engagement, both together and individually, made significant contributions to teaching effectiveness and teacher-rated children’s developmental outcomes. Teaching experience and school ownership also significantly moderated the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. This research therefore concludes that psychological capital, emotional intelligence, and work engagement are significant resources for teachers, contributing to teaching effectiveness and teacher-rated children’s developmental outcomes.

Despite growing concerns about mental health difficulties among children and youth, limited empirical evidence exists on the extent to which adverse childhood experiences and resilience predict mental health difficulties among school-going children and youth in rural communities. This research explored the prevalence and psychosocial predictors of mental health difficulties among children and youth. The study adopted a correlational and descriptive research design. Respondents consisted of 837 children and youth, who were selected from Johannesburg West Education District. They were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE-Q), and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM) as data-collection instruments. Frequencies and percentages, regression analysis, and moderation analysis were conducted using Hayes' PROCESS Macro. Findings revealed that about 44.4%, 18.3%, and 37.3% of the participants were within the normal, borderline, and abnormal ranges of mental health well-being, respectively. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) significantly predicted mental health difficulties (β = .238, t = 7.071, p < .001), contributing about 5.6% of the variation in mental health difficulties among youth and children. Resilience is also a significant predictor (β = −.121, t = −3.524, p < .001), accounting for about 1.5% of the variation in mental health problems; higher resilience was associated with lower levels of mental health difficulties. Moderation analyses showed that age and gender did not significantly moderate the relationships between ACEs, resilience, and mental health difficulties. The study concludes that ACEs constitute a significant risk factor, whereas resilience serves as a protective factor. The findings highlight the need for trauma-informed interventions, resilience-building programmes, and comprehensive mental health support services to promote positive mental health outcomes among children and youth.