Open Access

ARTICLE

Workplace Friendship and Burnout among Kindergarten Teachers in China: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction and the Moderating Role of Relative Deprivation

Zhiheng Xiong^1,#, Pingting Lin^2,#, Guomin Li³, Xiangzhen Ma^1,*

1 School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
2 School of Special Education, Nanjing Normal University of Special Education, Nanjing, China
3 School of Education Science, Nanjing Normal University of Special Education, Nanjing, China

* Corresponding Author: Xiangzhen Ma. Email:
# These authors contributed equally to this work

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Teachers under Pressure: Unpacking the Relationship Between Well-being, Mental Health, Work Environment and Professional Fulfilment)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2026, 28(9), 8 https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2026.086465

Received 31 May 2026; Accepted 29 July 2026; Issue published 22 September 2026

Abstract

Background: 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. Methods: 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. Results: (1) Workplace friendship was negatively associated with burnout among kindergarten teachers (β = −0.41, p < 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 (β = 0.14, p < 0.01, 95% CI [0.05, 0.22]). Conclusions: 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.

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Keywords

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