An inquiry of middle school teacher stress and burnout with a predictive analysis of the characteristics of teachers most likely to experience emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and low personal accomplishment with in-depth interviews

There has been an increasing focus on the amount of stress that teachers are expected to cope with on a day-to-day basis. In the early 1930s and 1940s, the need to shift from studying stress only for blue-collar workers became apparent as it became obvious that other professions also dealt with various stressors that ultimately negatively affected their personal and professional relationships, as well as their health. In recent years, the amount of work-related stress on teachers and the effects of that stress have become the focus of many studies. This study investigated the degree of burnout that teachers coped with, in addition to the specific stressors they encountered. In addition, this study sought to determine the impact of various stressors and to predict which groups of teachers, based on selected demographic data, would most likely experience each of the phases of burnout according the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey: Emotional Exhaustion, Depersonalization, and Personal Accomplishment. Emotional Exhaustion was evidenced by increased feelings of depleted emotional resources and feelings and of not being capable of being accessible to others on a psychological level. Depersonalization was characterized by negative attitudes toward students. Suppressed feelings of Personal Accomplishment encompassed the final phase of burnout. The sample consisted of 116 female and 19 male middle school teachers employed in a suburban school district in the Mid-South. The results of the study indicated female participants reported slightly higher levels of Emotional Exhaustion when compared with male participants. Although there were slight differences among the participants on each subscale, the results of the research indicated there were no significant characteristics of teachers that would predict burnout among middle school teachers. Specific stressors participants reported included excessive paperwork, lack of support from parents and administrators, and inappropriate student behaviors.