Trends in Early Childhood Educator Depression: Longitudinal Evidence Before and During COVID-19

Abstract

We present novel evidence on the enduring and far-reaching impact of the pandemic on educator psychological well-being. Using longitudinal data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education, we examine depression prevalence for approximately 2,500 center-based early childhood educators first observed in 2019 (i.e., prepandemic) and again more than 1.5 years into the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., October 2021 or later). Overall depression prevalence for these educators rose from 8.6% to 27.9%. Furthermore, depression at least doubled for all subgroups examined. Making under $30,000 annually, being under 40, or being between 40 and 59 years old were significant predictors of depression.

Keywords

correlational analysis descriptive analysis early childhood educational policy psychology regression analyses secondary data analysis

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