Existential fulfillment and burnout among principals and teachers

The aim of the current study was to determine the prevalence of burnout in primary education teachers and primary school principals and to explore the relationship of existential fulfillment to self‐reported burnout scores. Random samples of 215 teachers and 514 principals participated in a cross‐sectional study using an anonymous, mailed survey. Two questionnaires were used in both studies. The Dutch version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory for teachers was used to assess the teachers’ and principals’ burnout level. Second, existential fulfillment was measured by the Längle, Orgler and Kundi Existence Scale. The results of the present study indicated that teachers’ and principals’ existential fulfillment is related to their burnout level. Lack of existential fulfillment was an important burnout determinant. Unfortunately, this concept has been neglected to date. Existential fulfillment may be a significant and usable point of departure for devising psychological interventions aimed at teachers and principals.     

Stress and burnout among French elementary school teachers: A transactional approach

Teachers meet increasing difficulties in their work: overwork, students dropping out of the system, the discredit of the profession among users of the educational system. These problems are stressors which have an influence on the vulnerability of teachers and lead to burnout. The transactional model of stress by Lazarus and Folkman [Lazarus, R.S., Folkman, S., 1984. Stress, appraisal and coping, New York, Springer] emphasizes the importance of the activity expended by an individual in order to confront a stressful situation. We administered several questionnaires to 410 French elementary schoolteachers during the first term (T1) in order to evaluate: their sociobiographic characteristics; the frequency of professional problems; perceived self-efficacy; social support; and their coping strategies. The burnout of 259 teachers of the same cohort was evaluated during the third term (T2). The results of this research show the interest of taking into account transactional processes in order to study the effects of professional stress on burnout.     

中学教师职业倦怠状况及影响因素的研究

职业倦怠是职业压力的一种,指在职业环境中,对长期的情绪紧张源和人际关系紧张源的应激反应而表现出的一系列心理、生理综合征.教师是职业倦怠感的高发人群.教师身上表现出的职业倦怠感对学生的成长和发展有巨大的消极影响.以中学教师为被试,采用问卷调查的方法考察教师的职业倦怠状况和影响因素.研究发现中学教师的职业倦怠整体上并不严重;教龄6-10年是教师职业倦怠最严重的阶段;职称是影响教师职业倦怠的重要因素;性别、所在学校是否重点以及是否班主任对教师职业倦怠没有显著影响.     

Inequity,burnout and psychological withdrawal among teachers: a dynamic exchange model

This study examined the relations among inequity, psychological wellbeing and organizational commitment among a longitudinal sample of 920 Dutch teachers. Equity theory provided hypotheses on the mutual effects of inequity experienced in interpersonal and organizational exchange relationships on the one hand, and strain and psychological withdrawal on the other. Further, we expected that distincing oneself from an inequitable exchange relationship would lead to a more equitable balance between investments in and benefits gained from the corresponding exchange relationships. Covariance structure modelling supported the distinction among three types of exchange relationships, as well as the distinction between different sets of outcome variables associated with these relationships. Inequity was related to the expected negative work outcomes within but not across time points. Withdrawal from an inequitable relationship seemed to increase, rather than to decrease the inequity of particular exchange relationships.     

Resilient teachers: resisting stress and burnout

In Australia, the incidence of teacher stress and burnout has caused serious concern. Many studies of teacher stress have focused on the dysfunctional strategies of individual teachers – in other words they have adopted a deficit approach to the problem with the focus firmly fixed on whats going wrong. From this perspective, the failure of some teachers to cope has generally been defined as a personal rather than an institutional weakness and the solutions that have been promoted have been largely palliative or therapeutic. The study reported in this paper adopted a different approach to the question of teacher stress and burnout. Instead of asking whats going wrong we asked why are some teachers able to cope successfully with the same kinds of stressors that appear to defeat others – in other words, we looked at whats going right.     

Relationships among humour,self-esteem,and social support to burnout in school teachers

This study examined the total, direct, and indirect effects of humour on burnout among 539 school teachers. As predicted, those with high humour reported significantly lower levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation but higher levels of personal accomplishment. Self-esteem consistently explained parts of the associations between humour and burnout components, whereas perceived social support from the principal, colleagues, and friends were significant mediators in the relationships between humour and emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and personal accomplishment respectively. Results call for an appropriate focus on the development of humour through strength-based and positive interventions to help teachers cope with burnout.     

Job stressors,Type A behavior,coping responses,and psychological burnout among teachers

This study examined a research model developed to understand psychological burnout in work settings. Data were collected from 473 teachers and school administrators using questionnaires completed anonymously. Four groups of predictor variables identified in previous research were considered: individual demographic and situational variables, Type A behavior, job Stressors and coping responses. Type A behavior, job Stressors and coping responses were significantly and independently related to levels of psychological burnout.     

Emotional labor and burnout among female teachers: Work–family conflict as mediator

With the increasing number of women in the workforce, there is a need to understand how the interrelationship between emotions and the demands of work and family influence their well‐being. This study examined how emotional labor [surface acting (SA) and deep acting] and work–family conflict contribute to explaining variance in burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalization). In a sample of 102 married, female Malay teachers, with at least one child living at home, results showed that SA was positively associated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. The results also showed that work–family conflict mediated the relationship between emotional labor and burnout. However, no moderation effect of work–family on the SA–burnout relationship was found. The results are discussed with respect to the general literature on the stress–strain relation and work–family conflict.     

Extension of the Job Demands-Resources model in the prediction of burnout and engagement among teachers over time

Our purpose was to extend the Job Demand-Resources Model (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004) by including personal resources, job demands and job resources to predict burnout (exhaustion, cynicism, depersonalization) and work engagement (vigour and dedication). The sample comprised 274 teachers from 23 secondary schools of the Valencian Community (Spain). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses have revealed: (1) the predictor effect of quantitative overload on exhaustion and dedication at T2, (2) role conflict on cynicism and (3) role ambiguity on dedication. Lastly, the mediating role of burnout and engagement at T2. Practical implications and directions of future research are discussed.     

Positive weighing of the other's collective narrative among Jewish and Bedouin‐Palestinian teachers in Israel and its correlates

Teachers play a pivotal role in the educational discourse around collective narratives, and especially the other's narrative. The study assumed that members of groups entangled in a conflict approach the different modules of the other's narrative distinctively. Jewish and Palestinian teachers, Israeli citizens, answered questionnaires dealing with the narrative of the other, readiness for interethnic contact, negative between‐group emotions and preferences for resolutions of the Israeli–Palestinian (I–P) conflict. Positive weighing of the other's narrative among Jewish teachers correlated with high levels of readiness for interethnic contact and low levels of negative between‐group emotions, across the various modules of the Palestinian narrative. Preferences for a peaceful resolution of the I–P conflict and rejection of a violent one were noted in two of the modules. Among Palestinian teachers, positive weighing of the other's collective narrative was exclusively noted for the Israeli narrative of the Holocaust, and this stance negatively related to negative between‐group emotions and preference for a violent solution of the I–P conflict, and positively related to readiness for interethnic contact and preference of a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Practical implications of these findings for peace education are discussed.     

Work and family precursors of burnout in teachers: Sex differences

This paper examines factors contributing to burnout in women and men teachers. Results indicated that men were significantly higher than women on one of the Maslach burnout subscales—depersonalization. Additional results showed that women experienced significantly more depression, headaches, and role conflict than their male counterparts. Multiple regression results indicated that 47% of the variation in burnout was accounted for by a model of burnout that included role conflict, marital satisfaction, work sources of stress, and social support in women. But in men, the main contributor to burnout was sources of stress including doubts about competence and problems with students. The results are discussed from a gender role perspective that takes account of the differential implications of gender roles for women and men.This research was supported by grants from York University including the Faculties of Arts and Administrative Studies. We would like to thank Jacob Wolpin for assitance in the data analyses.     

Factor structure of the Body Appreciation Scale among Malaysian women

The present study examined the factor structure of a Malay version of the Body Appreciation Scale (BAS), a recently developed scale for the assessment of positive body image that has been shown to have a unidimensional structure in Western settings. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses based on data from community sample of 591 women in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, failed to support a unidimensional structure for the Malay BAS. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis suggested two stable factors, which were labelled 'General Body Appreciation' and 'Body Image Investment'. Multi-group analysis showed that the two-factor structure was invariant for both Malaysian Malay and Chinese women, and that there were no significant ethnic differences on either factor. Results also showed that General Body Appreciation was significant negatively correlated with participants' body mass index. These results are discussed in relation to possible cross-cultural differences in positive body image.     

The factor structure and composite reliability of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale among ex-prisoners

The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure and composite reliability of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) using a sample of 669 ex-prisoners identified in the National Survey of American Life. Six distinct factor models, with uncorrelated measurement error terms, were specified and tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results indicated that the two-factor model consisting of positive and negative latent variables provided a better fit to the data than the alternative models. Moreover, only positive self-esteem was a significant predictor of recidivism. Composite reliability indicated that the two factors were measured with very good reliability. The results consequently provide additional support for a two-dimensional model of the RSES within offender populations.     

Associations between burnout and personal and professional characteristics: a study of Portuguese teachers

Social Psychology of Education - Recent research has suggested that teachers’ burnout is growing and, consequently, affecting their overall satisfaction with life and professional...     

The impact of resilience on role stressors and burnout in elementary and secondary teachers

The role of a teacher is becoming increasingly complex, and it is more important than ever that teachers develop resilience to overcome stress and burnout. A conceptual framework to explain the ability of resilience to decrease role stress and burnout was developed and tested. Participants included 415 teachers (174 elementary, 241 secondary) who taught in three adjacent school districts in the Midwest of the United States. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey that included measures of resilience, role stressors, and burnout. Structural equation modeling was used to test the conceptual framework, and invariance analysis examined the equivalence of relationships across elementary and secondary teacher groups. Results generally supported the conceptual framework, and commonly experienced pathways were found to be invariant across groups. This study emphasizes the importance of resilience in helping to reduce perceived teacher stress and feelings of burnout.     

小学教师职业倦怠维度发展顺序探究——来自结构方程模型和交叉滞后网络分析模型的证据

教师职业倦怠的情感衰竭、去人性化和个人成就感降低3个维度相对独立但也存在相互影响, 对其发展关系进行研究, 有助于深入理解职业倦怠的发展过程, 尽早识别倦怠症状。本研究对3837名小学教师进行追踪测试, 测试间隔为3年, 采用结构方程模型和交叉滞后网络分析模型进行分析, 结果发现小学教师职业倦怠维度最优发展模型为“T1的情感衰竭和个人成就感降低分别预测T2的情感衰竭和个人成就感降低, T1的去人性化预测T2的去人性化和个人成就感降低”, 且最优发展模型具有性别间的一致性和教龄段之间的一致性。这一结果支持并强调了去人性化在小学教师职业倦怠发展中的重要作用, 对识别教师职业倦怠早期症状并采取相应措施有效阻断教师职业倦怠的进一步发展具有一定的理论和现实意义。     

Barriers perceived by teachers at work, coping strategies, self-efficacy and burnout

This study examines the relationships among stressors, coping strategies, self-efficacy and burnout in a sample of 724 Spanish primary and secondary teachers. We understood stressors as barriers perceived by teachers that interfere with their work meeting learning objectives and which cause them stress and burnout. An analysis of teacher responses using hierarchical regression revealed that pedagogical barriers had significant positive effects on the burnout dimensions. Furthermore, the results show not only the moderator role played by coping strategies in the pedagogical barriers-burnout dimensions relationship, but also the association between self-efficacy and the coping strategies used by teachers. Practical implications are discussed.