A Correlational Study On Mental Health And Living Status And Job Burnout Of Private Preschool Teachers

After the 1990s, as China's reformation over the preschool operation system had taken gradual progress, the private sector began to emerge as the major provider of preschool education, and as an indispensable part of the whole system, an army of preschool teachers are playing a more and more important role in China's preschool education. The psychological well-being of these private employed teachers will have great impact not only on their own professional development but also on the entire quality of China's preschool education. Presently, as Chinese scholars have confined their research mainly within the mental health condition of the state employed teachers, systematic and empirical studies about the private employed teachers are hard to find. In an attempt to find out the mental health condition of these private preschool teachers and explore the relationship between their mental health condition and living status and job burnout, this study investigated 217 private preschool teachers with the Symptom Checklist-90, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and living status of private preschool teacher questionnaire, hoping to serve as a reference or consultation specifically for the enhancement of mental health and quality of the teacher group. Based on the statistical analysis of the data and the comprehensive discussion of the results, conclusions are drawn as follows:(1) The mental health condition of the private preschool teachers are generally at a lower level than normal people, although the two groups do not differ significantly in the interpersonal sensitivity factor and the anxiety factor.(2) The private preschool teachers are not severely suffering from job burnout in general. To be specific, in order of seriousness, they are experiencing relatively serious emotional exhaustion, less serious sense of inefficacy and least depersonalization.(3) With limited resources and relatively low social status, private preschool teachers have to face social " repulsion" in many areas such as economic income, residential condition, professional development, social care and support and social security, living in pressing circumstance with notable characteristics of disadvantageous groups.(4) The factors of mental health are significantly correlated with some aspects of the living status respectively, with economic income and medical insurance most significantly correlated.(5) Significant positive correlations exist between most factors of mental health and the three dimentions of job burnout, with few exceptions. The teacher with worse mental health condition suffers more from job burnout, and vice versa.(6) The three dimentions of job burnout are significantly correlated with some aspects of the living status, with economic income, health condition, working environment, interpersonal relationship, social care and human rights most significantly correlated.(7) Although any two of mental health, living status and job burnout correlate with each other, living status is the foundation. The key way to prevent and cure job burnout and approach mental health is to improve the living status of the private preschool teachers.