Date of Award

Spring 2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership

First Advisor

David Gullatt

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to study stress in teachers in Louisiana by utilizing a descriptive/comparative research design. Hypotheses were tested concerning relationships between each of seven independent variables and the dependent variable (teacher stress). The independent variables were (a) years of teaching experience, (b) educational levels of teachers (college degrees), (c) age, (d) gender, (e) social interest, (f) geographical location (North and South Louisiana), and (g) educational levels of students taught by teachers (elementary, middle, high school). The procedure for choosing the participants involved a sample of convenience whereby superintendents provided access/permission to specific schools. Nine schools (three elementary, three middle, and three high schools) were chosen from each of the two geographical locations in Louisiana (North and South).

The stress assessment instrument used in this study was the Teacher Stress Inventory (TSI; Fimian, 1985). The social interest instrument used was the Social Interest Scale (Crandall, 1975). A demographic sheet collected self-reported data including (a) age, (b) educational levels of teachers (college degrees), (c) years of teaching experience, (d) gender, (e) educational levels taught by teachers (elementary, middle, high school), and geographical location (North and South Louisiana). Participants were 423 public school teachers. Participants ranged in age from 22-70 years. Those who reported gender totaled 418 (men=58, women=360). Two hundred and eighteen participants were from South Louisiana, whereas 204 were from North Louisiana.

None of the seven independent variables showed significant relationships with TSI stress scores. However, additional factor analyses of the TSI obtained five subscales that warranted further study. The five subscales were labeled (a) classroom management, (b) job recognition/status/respect, (c) workload overload, (d) time management concerns, and (e) psychological/physiological concerns. Significant differences were found in stress, as measured by the classroom management subscale on the TSI and years of experience, age, and educational levels taught by teachers. Significant differences were found in stress, as measured by the job recognition/status/respect subscale of the TSI and educational levels taught by teachers and the educational levels of teachers (type of college degrees). A significant difference was found in stress, as measured by the workload overload subscale of the TSI and educational levels taught by teachers. Significant differences were found in stress, as measured by the time management concerns subscale of the TSI and age and gender. A significant difference was found for gender on the TSI subscale psychological/physiological concerns. Implications of these findings were discussed.

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