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      Stress Sources and Manifestations in a Nationwide Sample of Pre-Primary, Primary, and Secondary Educators in Greece

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          Abstract

          Background

          Teachers experience high levels of stress as a result of their professional duties, and research has shown a growing interest in this phenomenon during the recent years. Aim of this study was to explore the associations of stress sources and manifestations with individual and job-related characteristics in educators of all levels.

          Methods

          In a cross-sectional design, following an informative e-campaign on the study aims through the official and the main teachers’ portals in Greece, respondents completed online the teachers stress inventory (TSI) and the 14-item Perceived Stress Scale. Nine hundred seventy-four male and 2473 female pre-primary, primary, and secondary educators with a mean age of 41.2 years responded.

          Results

          Women and younger teachers reported significantly higher levels of stress, mainly due to lack of time and other work-related stressors, and also more emotional and gastronomic manifestations. Increased age and working experience were associated with lower levels of several stress sources. Teachers of administrative positions had increased time management stressors, but less professional distress, professional investment, and discipline and motivation stressors. Additionally, working and residing far from family increased teachers’ stress levels associated with control, motivation, and investment. Teachers of pre-primary education had reduced professional investment and motivation stress factors, while vocational lyceum teachers of secondary education reported less work-related stressors and manifestations and more discipline and motivation-related ones. Having students supported or in need of support from special educators and students with difficulties in speaking or comprehension was associated with most of the teachers’ stress sources and manifestations (i.e., TSI subscales). Finally, colleagues’ and mainly supervisors’ support seemed to provide a strong and consistent protection against both stress sources and manifestations.

          Conclusion

          Stress factors and manifestations vary among educators by gender, seniority, and teaching level. Training in coping and communication skills starting in teachers’ undergraduate studies might have a major impact on their stress alleviation.

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          Most cited references40

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          Perceived Stress Scale: Reliability and Validity Study in Greece

          Objective: To translate the Perceived Stress Scale (versions PSS-4, −10 and −14) and to assess its psychometric properties in a sample of general Greek population. Methods: 941 individuals completed anonymously questionnaires comprising of PSS, the Depression Anxiety and Stress scale (DASS-21 version), and a list of stress-related symptoms. Psychometric properties of PSS were investigated by confirmatory factor analysis (construct validity), Cronbach’s alpha (reliability), and by investigating relations with the DASS-21 scores and the number of symptoms, across individuals’ characteristics. The two-factor structure of PSS-10 and PSS-14 was confirmed in our analysis. We found satisfactory Cronbach’s alpha values (0.82 for the full scale) for PSS-14 and PSS-10 and marginal satisfactory values for PSS-4 (0.69). PSS score exhibited high correlation coefficients with DASS-21 subscales scores, meaning stress (r = 0.64), depression (r = 0.61), and anxiety (r = 0.54). Women reported significantly more stress compared to men and divorced or widows compared to married or singled only. A strong significant (p < 0.001) positive correlation between the stress score and the number of self-reported symptoms was also noted. Conclusions: The Greek versions of the PSS-14 and PSS-10 exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties and their use for research and health care practice is warranted.
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            Job stressors, personality and burnout in primary school teachers.

            Teaching is considered a highly stressful occupation. Burnout is a negative affective response occurring as a result of chronic work stress. While the early theories of burnout focused exclusively on work-related stressors, recent research adopts a more integrative approach where both environmental and individual factors are studied. Nevertheless, such studies are scarce with teacher samples. The present cross-sectional study sought to investigate the association between burnout, personality characteristics and job stressors in primary school teachers from Cyprus. The study also investigates the relative contribution of these variables on the three facets of burnout - emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. A representative sample of 447 primary school teachers participated in the study. Teachers completed measures of burnout, personality and job stressors along with demographic and professional data. Surveys were delivered by courier to schools, and were distributed at faculty meetings. Results showed that both personality and work-related stressors were associated with burnout dimensions. Neuroticism was a common predictor of all dimensions of burnout although in personal accomplishment had a different direction. Managing student misbehaviour and time constraints were found to systematically predict dimensions of burnout. Teachers' individual characteristics as well as job related stressors should be taken into consideration when studying the burnout phenomenon. The fact that each dimension of the syndrome is predicted by different variables should not remain unnoticed especially when designing and implementing intervention programmes to reduce burnout in teachers.
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              A Meta-Analysis for Exploring the Diverse Causes and Effects of Stress in Teachers

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                URI : http://frontiersin.org/people/u/324850
                URI : http://frontiersin.org/people/u/65799
                Journal
                Front Public Health
                Front Public Health
                Front. Public Health
                Frontiers in Public Health
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                2296-2565
                21 April 2016
                2016
                : 4
                : 73
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Directorate of Primary Education of Eastern Attica , Attica, Greece
                [2] 2School of Social Sciences, Hellenic Open University , Patras, Greece
                Author notes

                Edited by: Seichi Horie, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan

                Reviewed by: Marzuki Isahak, University of Malaya, Malaysia; Yuke Tien Fong, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore

                *Correspondence: Evangelos C. Alexopoulos, ecalexop@ 123456med.uoa.gr , ecalexop@ 123456upatras.gr

                Specialty section: This article was submitted to Occupational Health and Safety, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public Health

                Article
                10.3389/fpubh.2016.00073
                4838612
                27148519
                2c2b72e1-35b1-4970-b870-4ba31cf15100
                Copyright © 2016 Kourmousi and Alexopoulos.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 25 November 2015
                : 06 April 2016
                Page count
                Figures: 0, Tables: 4, Equations: 0, References: 57, Pages: 9, Words: 6984
                Categories
                Public Health
                Original Research

                teachers’ stress,occupational stress,stress factors,stress manifestations,teacher stress inventory

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