A longitudinal study of occupational stressors and depressive symptoms in first-year female teachers

Details

• Personal Author:
  Schonfeld IS
• Description:
  An epidemiological study was conducted of occupational stress among school teachers concentrating on first year or newly appointed school teachers as an indicator of stress on teachers in general. The study group included 255 women who were newly appointed teachers in the fall following graduation. The average age was 28 years. Depressive symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies, Depression Scale. Two measures of the adversity of the school environment were developed: the Episodic Stressor Scale and the Strain Scale. The former was created by computing the teacher's mean score on items assessing the frequency with which he or she encountered episodically occurring stressors such as the threat of personal injury, confrontation initiated by an insolent student, or episodes of vandalism. The Strain Scale measured the teacher's mean score on items which were ongoing stressors such as overcrowded classroom, unmotivated students, or the tendency of administrators not to enforce rules against disruptive pupils. The study results indicated that the women working in the most adverse school environments showed the most depressive symptoms. Adverse school conditions may have detrimental effects on mental health. The effect of school conditions on symptoms was quite sizable when other risk factors were controlled. The analysis indicated that the causal paths from the school environment to symptoms dominated the paths from symptoms to the environment. These findings were consistent with life stress research which indicates that events demonstrating to the individual a strong sense of personal disappointment and thwarted goals are related to elevated risk for clinical depression. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Education Epidemiology Mental Disorders Mental Health Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Job-stress Mental-stress NIOSH-Grant Psychological-disorders Psychological-factors Risk-factors Teaching
• ISSN:
  0742-051X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  151-158
• Volume:
  8
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00232608
• Citation:
  Teach Teach Educ 1992; 8(2):151-158
• Contact Point Address:
  Social and Psychological Fdns the City College of Cuny Convent Avenue at 138Th St New York, New York 10031
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• NORA Priority Area:
  Psychologic Disorders
• Performing Organization:
  City College of New York, New York, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19880601
• Source Full Name:
  Teaching and Teacher Education
• End Date:
  20010331
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e3f18948fb2210095c2bef202f99d995022e26d7da6aaa792b34e25a5bc8c4cfa52ef08233378d621b99f3df9819b5c50f5cccd769b96dc1b3bcc70428f23f44
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/204014/cdc_204014_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 852.03 KB ]