The causal process of teacher aggression: a mixed methods analysis

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Education, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

Many teachers continue to respond aggressively to students who misbehave. A small handful of studies have investigated the causal events that lead to teacher aggression, but none have investigated the broader causal process of the maladaptive behaviour. This thesis investigated the causal process of teacher aggression using two metatheories of human aggression: I3 theory and the General Aggression Model (GAM). Study 1 (N = 249), an ex-post facto study, found that the causal process of teacher aggression follows the GAM. Study 1 found that insecure caregiving indirectly leads to teacher aggression through two mediators, misbehaviour provocation and trait self-control, which function both sequentially and in parallel. Study 2 (N = 110), an experimental study, found that ego depletion does not moderate the indirect relationship between insecure caregiving and teacher aggression when it is mediated by misbehaviour provocation. Study 3 (N = 2), a phenomenological study, found that insecure caregiving influences the causal process of teacher aggression via three sub-pathways, which include perceiving student misbehaviour as a caregiving rejection, perceiving student misbehaviour as a personal attack, and the fear of losing control of the classroom. The general discussion focuses on the role of teacher personal history in the causal process of teacher aggression, and considers the possibility that aggressive teachers experience countertransference in the same way as psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and practitioners in related professions. Keywords: Attachment behavioural system Caregiving behavioural system Student-teacher relationships Student misbehaviour Trait self-control Ego depletion Transcendental phenomenology Countertransference.