Teachers’ emotional labor during wartime: Autonomous and controlled reasons as predictors of ill-being

Teachers often engage in emotional labor - managing emotions to meet job expectations - especially during wartime. This longitudinal study examined how two emotional labor strategies, deep acting (genuinely trying to feel the required emotion) and surface acting (faking or masking emotions), along with teachers' autonomous and controlled reasons for using them, predicted ill-being. A sample of 259 Israeli teachers (Mean experience = 15.1 years; 60 % female) participated in a three-wave study during the Gaza War. Data were collected online and analyzed using multilevel growth curve modeling. Deep acting was associated with lower initial depressive and anxiety symptoms and declining emotional exhaustion. Surface acting predicted higher initial ill-being, though some symptoms decreased over time. Importantly, teachers' motivations explained additional variance: autonomous reasons for emotional labor were linked to lower ill-being, whereas controlled reasons predicted higher ill-being. Findings highlight the value of supporting teachers’ autonomous motivation during periods of acute stress.