Teacher Efficacy Mediates Links Between Professional Perceptions, Social Support, and Teacher-Child Interactions.

Quality teacher-child interactions are central to early childhood education, yet less is known about how pre-service teachers develop perceived competence in such interactions before entering full professional practice. This study aimed to examine how professional perceptions and social support are associated with self-reported teacher-child interaction competence, and whether teacher efficacy statistically mediates these associations. A regional sample of 350 pre-service early childhood education teachers from four institutions in Fujian and Shaanxi, China, completed validated self-report questionnaires. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed associative mediation model, with common method bias, construct validity, discriminant validity, measurement invariance, and indirect effects examined through complementary analyses. Teacher efficacy was positively associated with teacher-child interaction competence (β = 0.660, p < 0.001), while professional perceptions (β = 0.629, p < 0.001) and social support (β = 0.292, p < 0.001) were positively associated with teacher efficacy. Bootstrap analysis showed significant indirect associations for professional perceptions (standardized indirect coefficient = 0.415, 95% bias-corrected confidence interval [0.331, 0.509], p < 0.001) and social support (standardized indirect coefficient = 0.193, 95% bias-corrected confidence interval [0.117, 0.277], p = 0.004). The findings suggest that teacher efficacy is a key explanatory mechanism linking professional and contextual resources with perceived interaction competence among pre-service early childhood education teachers.