Well-Being in South Korea
Led by former PhD student, Dr. Sooyeon Byun, we investigate well-being of families, children, and early childhood teachers in South Korea.
In 2019, we collected data from early childhood teachers in South Korea to understand the state of their psychological well-being and its associations with their professional engagement and classroom quality. The survey was adapted from the US national survey on early childhood teachers’ social-emotional capacity that Dr. Lieny Jeon conducted at The Ohio State University. This project allows us to conduct cross-cultural comparison studies on early childhood teachers’ well-being.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, survey and interview data were collected from parents of preschool-aged children in South Korea to understand their experiences. This study revealed that many parents were experiencing household chore and child care related burdens, which were associated with the degrees of their stress and resilience. We also investigate further the way early care and education programs responded to the sudden surge of the pandemic, and how this was related to parents’ well-being amid the COVID-19 crisis.
Early Childhood Educators in China
Collaborating with Dr. Si Chen at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Dr. Lieny Jeon and the PhD student Olivia Zhao investigated the well-being of early childhood teachers in China. In 2023, we collected quantitative and qualitative data from early childhood teachers in Shenzhen, China, to understand the state of their psychological, physical, and professional well-being and its associations with their job attitudes and interaction quality with children. The survey was adapted from the survey on early childhood teachers’ social-emotional capacity that Dr. Lieny Jeon and Dr. Sooyeon Byun conducted in the United States and South Korea. After collecting the survey data, we interviewed a subset of participating teachers to gain a more in-depth understanding of their experiences and challenges. This project contributes to cross-cultural comparison studies among ECE educators, enhancing our understanding of their experiences across diverse contexts.
