@Article{ijmhp.2026.086465,
AUTHOR = {Zhiheng Xiong, Pingting Lin, Guomin Li, Xiangzhen Ma},
TITLE = {Workplace Friendship and Burnout among Kindergarten Teachers in China: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and the Moderating Role of Relative Deprivation},
JOURNAL = {International Journal of Mental Health Promotion},
VOLUME = {},
YEAR = {},
NUMBER = {},
PAGES = {{pages}},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/IJMHP/online/detail/28058},
ISSN = {2049-8543},
ABSTRACT = {<b>Background:</b> Kindergarten teachers are particularly vulnerable to burnout because their work involves substantial emotional and caregiving demands, which may be associated with teaching quality and children’s development. Using a sample of kindergarten teachers in China, this study tested a moderated mediation model to examine how workplace friendship, job satisfaction, and relative deprivation were associated with kindergarten teachers’ burnout. <b>Methods:</b> Using a cross-sectional self-report design, 344 kindergarten teachers from Jiangsu Province, mainland China, completed measures of workplace friendship, relative deprivation, job satisfaction, and burnout. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analyses, mediation analysis, and moderated mediation analyses were conducted using SPSS and the PROCESS macro. <b>Results:</b> (1) Workplace friendship was negatively associated with burnout among kindergarten teachers (<i>β</i> = −0.41, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001, 95% CI [−0.50, −0.31]); (2) job satisfaction partially mediated the association between workplace friendship and burnout (indirect effect = −0.19, SE = 0.03, 95% CI [−0.25, −0.13]); and (3) relative deprivation moderated the association between job satisfaction and burnout (<i>β</i> = 0.14, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.01, 95% CI [0.05, 0.22]). <b>Conclusions:</b> These findings may help clarify how workplace friendship is associated with burnout among kindergarten teachers by identifying job satisfaction as a potential psychological pathway. Moreover, relative deprivation moderated the second stage of this mediation process, indicating that the association between job satisfaction and burnout varied across different levels of perceived relative deprivation. Future research should examine whether these associations among workplace friendship, job satisfaction, relative deprivation, and burnout can be generalized across different cultural contexts.},
DOI = {10.32604/ijmhp.2026.086465}
}