Coping Styles with Student Misbehavior as Mediators of Teachers’ Classroom Management Strategies

The purpose of the present study is to identify how teachers’ use of various coping styles with student misbehavior, and the extent to which these relate to their classroom management techniques – punishment, recognition and reward, hinting, discussion, and aggression. It examines data from 397 junior high school teachers in Vietnam. The results obtained from correlation analyses indicated that coping styles mediated the relationship between teachers’ concerns about student misbehavior and their use of classroom management techniques. The findings obtained from the data analyses indicated that teachers who use passive avoidant strategies employ more aggression and punishment techniques towards student misbehavior. Conversely, teachers who use more social problem solving and relaxation strategies use more inclusive management techniques such as recognition and reward, discussion, and hinting. Implications of these findings are discussed.