School-related well-being is a central educational outcome encompassing cognitive, affective, physical, and social components (Kleinkorres et al., 2023). It is shaped by individual and contextual factors, including teachers’ occupational well-being, which comprises both positive and negative aspects (Bakker & Oerlemans, 2012). Previous studies have linked teachers’ occupational well-being to selected student outcomes, including school satisfaction, psychological distress, and achievement (Bilz et al., 2022; Braun et al., 2020; Klusmann et al., 2022). However, underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The Prosocial Classroom Model proposes that teachers’ well-being may shape classroom interactions and teacher–student relationships (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009), potentially influencing aspects such as students’ intrinsic motivation and alienation from teachers. According to self-determination theory, intrinsic motivation and relatedness are important for students’ well-being (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Longitudinal research has linked intrinsic motivation and alienation from teachers to student well-being (Grassinger et al., 2024; Morinaj & Hascher, 2019). However, evidence on the outcomes of teachers’ well-being remains largely correlational and uneven across outcomes (Dreer, 2023), leaving the mediating pathways unclear.
We thus examined longitudinal associations between teachers’ occupational well-being in Grade 5 (job satisfaction, occupational stress) and class-level student well-being in Grade 6 (school-related satisfaction, enjoyment, and worries, physical complaints, and alienation from classmates), considering intrinsic motivation and alienation from teachers as mediators.
Data stem from two waves of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), Starting Cohort 8 - Grade 5 (SC8; NEPS Network, 2026). The sample comprised N=1,862 students (Mage T1=10.90 years, SD=0.49; 50.6% female) in 173 classes at 97 schools and their173 homeroom teachers (65.3% female), excluding students with special educational needs, attending elementary schools, or changing schools.
Four two-level structural equation models tested associations and mediation, with and without adjustment for students’ gender, socioeconomic status, immigrant background, achievement, and school track.
In the unadjusted model, teachers’ occupational stress was positively associated with students’ school-related worries (β=.41, p=.002) and alienation from classmates (β=.40, p=.008). No associations with job satisfaction emerged. After including control variables, neither association was statistically significant, although the association between occupational stress and school-related worries approached statistical significance (β=.25, p=.065). No total or specific indirect effects were significant in either mediation model.
The findings point to occupational stress, rather than job satisfaction, as potentially relevant to specific aspects of student well-being. However, associations were attenuated after adjustment, and the hypothesized mediating mechanisms were not supported, suggesting that class-level differences in student well-being may partly reflect classroom composition.