Abstract

This study examined the mediating effect of cognitive flexibility and active coping on the relationship between elementary school teachers’ adult attachment and their perceptions of teacher-student relationships. Questionnaires were given to 203 elementary school teachers in Gyeonggi-do that contained adult attachment, cognitive flexibility, coping, and teacher-student relationship scales. Collected data was analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and SPSS macros. There were three major results. First, cognitive flexibility fully mediated the relationship between adult attachment and perceptions of teacher-student relationships. Teachers who had secure adult attachment tended to positively perceive teacher-student relationships as a result of their cognitive flexibility. Second, active coping did not mediate the relationship between adult attachment and perceptions of teacher-student relationships when the mediating effects of both cognitive flexibility and active coping were considered. This result means that adult attachment indirectly affected active coping via cognitive flexibility. Third, cognitive flexibility and active coping fully mediated the relationship between adult attachment and perceptions of teacher-student relationships. Teachers who had secure adult attachment tended to perceive teacher-student relationships positively as a result of their cognitive flexibility and active coping. This paper presents the implications of these results, limitations of this study, and suggestions for future research.