Early Childhood Teachers of Color in New York City: heightened stress, lower quality of life, declining health, and compromised sleep amidst COVID-19.

ABSTRACT

Stress and well-being are known to influence the quality of teacher-student interactions, teachers' delivery of emotional and instructional support, and the social competence and executive function skills of young learners-dynamics that impact the education and development of young children. Even prior to COVID-19, 46% of teachers reported notably high levels of daily stress. Given the additional stressors associated with the pandemic, this multi-methods study explores the well-being of Latinx, Black, and multiracial early childhood teachers in New York City, where communities of Color have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19. Via an amalgamation of descriptive and interpretive approaches-a survey, time-use diaries, and qualitative interviews-this study documents early childhood teachers' experiences making sense of and negotiating the impacts of intersecting stressors on their stress, health, quality of life, and sleep amidst COVID-19. Survey findings show reduced well-being across measures among the early childhood teachers in the sample, while qualitative findings illustrate the many layers of challenges that teachers of Color faced during the pandemic. Time-use diaries show extremely high demands and long work hours associated with concerning lack of self-care and attention to mental health. Interviews elucidate how stress is layered across environmental, occupational, and racial factors. This study points to the need to attend to the well-being of Black, Latinx, and multiracial early childhood teachers in urban settings during and after COVID-19 recovery.