Background
Teaching is one of the most stressful occupations a person can have (Johnson et al., 2005; Kyriacou & Sutcliffe, 1977). Frequently identified sources of stress and decreased job satisfaction include the following:
- inadequate salary and perceived low status of the profession (Carlson & Thompson, 1995; Kyriacou & Sutcliffe, 1978)
- role conflict and ambiguity (Dunham, 1992)
- time pressure (Chan, 1998)
- student misbehavior (Turk, Meeks, & Turk, 1982)
- relationships with supervisors (Litt & Turk, 1985)
- large class size (Burke & Greenglass, 1994).
Teachers also experience intense, emotion-laden interactions on a daily basis and have a great number of emotional demands compared to most other professionals (Brotheridge & Grandey, 2002).
The stress and emotional demands associated with the teaching profession can lead to emotional and physical exhaustion, cynical attitudes about teaching, reduced feelings of personal accomplishment, and lower job satisfaction (Guglielmi&Tatrow, 1998; Shan, 1998; Vandenberghe & Huberman, 1999).
Abundant research has focused on these emotional demands and their impact on teachers’ well-being, mental health, stress, burnout, and job satisfaction as well as on learning outcomes for students (Chan, 2006). Relatively little is known, however, about protective factors against teacher stress and burnout.
Which psychological attributes might predict less emotional exhaustion and more positive emotions, increased feelings of personal accomplishment, and greater job satisfaction among teachers?
Research suggests that emotion-regulation ability (ERA) may account for meaningful variance in the prediction of these outcomes.
The Study
The topic of emotion regulation and its relationship with teacher effectiveness is beginning to garner attention by researchers.
This study examined the relationship between emotion-regulation ability (ERA), as assessed by the Mayer– Salovey –Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and both job satisfaction and burnout among secondary-school teachers (N =123).
It also examined the mediating effects of affect and principal support on these outcomes.
Findings
ERA was associated positively with positive affect, principal support, job satisfaction, and one component of burnout, personal accomplishment.
Two path models demonstrated that both positive affect and principal support mediated independently the associations between ERA and both personal accomplishment and job satisfaction. (2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)
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Citation: All text taken directly from: (BRACKETT, PALOMERA, MOJSA-KAJA, REYES, & SALOVEY, 2010)
