Abstract
This study compared the effects of the “sense of nigate” when communicating difficult matters to parents on stress responses, and the effects of communication skills and daily communication with parents on the sense of nigate, by analyzing a sample of 122 childcare workers and 61 kindergarten teachers. The analysis revealed that, regardless of occupation, participants reported a significantly higher sense of nigate when dealing with difficult parents compared with approachable ones. For nursery school teachers, when the apprehension about the sense of nigate was higher, anxiety/uncertainty as a stress response was greater, with both parents who were difficult and easy to get along with. Furthermore, when communication with parents regarding support for their children’s development was more and the encoding of communication skills lower, they were more likely to feel apprehension about parents who were difficult to communicate with. For kindergarten teachers, when apprehension felt toward parents who were easy to interact with was greater, their psychological and physical stress responses were also greater. This study’s results suggest that, when childcare workers experience difficulties dealing with parents, their interpersonal emotions can heighten their stress responses.
