WORK-RELATED STRESS AND ATTENDANCE IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION (BURNOUT)
Abstract
The major purpose of this study was to determine whether significant relationships existed between work-related stress and attendance in the teaching profession. Relationships between the subdimensions of teaching stress; priority concerns for personal safety, management tensions, self-control, pedagogical functions, and demographic variables. Distributions of teachers' scores with respect to reporting stress in schools with high teacher attendance and schools with low teacher attendance were determined. Spearman rank order coefficient of correlation was used to determine whether teachers in schools with low teacher attendance ranked the level of stress resulting from priority concerns and management tensions significantly higher than the level of stress caused by self-control and pedagogical functions. Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation was used to determine whether a significant relationship existed between teachers' assessments of teaching stress and the demographic variables. Analysis of variance was used to determine differences according to the demographic variables and the subdimensions of teaching stress. The subjects consisted of 245 urban public elementary school teachers assigned to 15 schools in one northeastern United States city. A supplementary interview of 26 teachers who had at least ten years' experience was conducted to clarify the data. The materials employed in this investigation were the Teaching Stress Events Inventory (Cichon, Koff, Kotsakis, & Walley, 1978), and The Personal Data Sheet, developed by the researcher. The major conclusions based upon the finding of this study were: (a) A significant relationship did not exist between the rating of events as stressful and attendance. (b) Teachers in schools with low attendance did not rate stress generated by priority concerns and management tensions significantly higher (p < .05) than work-related stress associated with self-control and pedagogical functions. (c) There were no significant intercorrelations among the work-related stress variables and the demographic variables. Some major recommendations evolving from the findings and conclusions of the study were: (a) Further research is needed to understand the effects of work-related stress on teachers. (b) Research is needed about the "coping" teachers and effective strategies to alleviate stress. (c) Administrators should strive to provide opportunities for teachers to become more autonomous. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)
Subject Area
School administration
Recommended Citation
CUNNIFF, ELLEN CATHERINE, "WORK-RELATED STRESS AND ATTENDANCE IN THE TEACHING PROFESSION (BURNOUT)" (1986). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8629631.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8629631
