Temperament and Character Moderate the Effects of Mindfulness Training on Psychological and Professional Well-Being of School Teachers

An 8-week internet-based mindfulness training improved Italian school teachers' anxiety, interoceptive awareness, and professional efficacy compared to a control group. Anxiety reduction was medium-sized, interoceptive awareness improvements were medium-to-large, and professional efficacy gains were small-to-medium. The effects depended on teachers' baseline temperament and character: reduced anxiety occurred only for those with higher reward dependence or lower-to-middle self-directedness; improved interoceptive attention regulation occurred for those with middle-to-higher persistence; and improved efficacy for student engagement occurred only for those with lower self-transcendence. The study highlights the need to consider personality dimensions when designing mindfulness interventions for teachers.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Objectives The study aimed to investigate the pre-to-post effects of mindfulness training on school teachers’ psychological and professional well-being, as well as to explore the moderating role of temperament and character on these effects. Method An 8-week mindfulness-based intervention was delivered via internet-based group meetings to Italian teachers ( n = 139), who were assessed within two weeks before and after the intervention with self-report measures of emotional distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), interoceptive awareness (Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness), and professional efficacy (Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale), as well as with the Temperament and Character Inventory. A control group of teachers ( n = 47) was tested with the same measures in two temporally-matched sessions. Results Analysis of variance showed positive intervention effects on anxiety (medium effect size), on six of the eight dimensions of interoceptive awareness (medium-to-large effect size) and on two of the three scales of professional efficacy (small-to-medium effect size). Moderation analysis identified the following effects of temperament and character on outcomes: (1) reduced anxiety only for higher baseline reward dependence, or lower-to-middle baseline self-directedness; (2) improved interoceptive attention regulation specifically for middle-to-higher baseline persistence; (3) improved teacher efficacy for student engagement only for lower baseline self-transcendence. Conclusions The study shows the positive effects of mindfulness training on teachers' psychological and professional well-being. It also highlights the importance of considering the impact of temperament and character dimensions on these effects, for example for developing effective mindfulness-based interventions for teachers. Future research should explore potential mechanisms of action underlying the observed effects and evaluate them in the long term. Preregistration This study is not preregistered.