• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1-15
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• 2014

This study examined how child care teachers' background characteristics, self-efficacy and job stress relate to their job satisfaction. Participants were 400 child care teachers in Seoul and Gyeonggi, Korea. Structural equation models were developed based on the authors' hypothesized model, which proposed that teachers' self-efficacy and job stress have a mediating effect in the relationship between teachers' background characteristics and job satisfaction. The results revealed that career directly influenced on self-efficacy and job stress but had no direct effect on job satisfaction. Education level was found to have a direct effect on job stress but had no direct effect on self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Teachers' self-efficacy affected job stress and job satisfaction and job stress affected job satisfaction. Furthermore, self-efficacy mediated the effects of career on job stress and job satisfaction. Additionally, job stress mediated the effects of education level and self-efficacy on job satisfaction. These results suggested that teachers' self-efficacy and job stress were key predictors and mediating variables in the relationship between background characteristics and job satisfaction.