Vocational Teacher Stress and Internal Characteristics

Stress in teachers has been a topic of much discussion over the years. Unproductive levels of stress might be harmful to teachers and can affect their teaching, personal lives and, most importantly, their students. Internal characteristics were found to be one of the most important sources of teacher stress. This study analyzed six internally related characteristics: role preparedness, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, illness symptoms, locus of control, and self-esteem. Data were collected from two samples of vocational teachers in a southeastern state, and a multiple regression model was used to examine the role of these internal characteristics in explaining vocational teacher stress. This regression model was successful in explaining approximately 55.75% of the variance in vocational teacher stress. The most important internal characteristics in explaining vocational teacher stress were found to be illness symptoms, self-esteem, and role preparedness.

Many of the frustrations and pressures we experience in our social, personal, and work lives cause us to feel stress. Today's fast-paced and ever-changing environment has caused stress to become a part of our daily living. All of us have encountered stressors, experienced stress, and felt the effects of stress. Stress is actually the body's reaction to the stressors we encounter ( Kaiser & Polczynski, 1982 ; Terry, 1997 ). Stress has been studied for many years by researchers in psychology, sociology, and medicine. People have become enormously interested in the topics of stress, the affects of stress, and stress management ( Hubert, 1984 ; Ivancevich & Matteson, 1980 ; Selye, 1974, 1980 ). The stress experienced by teachers is no different ( Burke, Greenglass, & Schwarzer, 1996 ; Farber, 1984 ; Kyriacou, 1987 ). Teacher stress has continued to be studied since the 1930s, when articles on the health and happiness of teachers began to appear in various educational journals ( Smith & Milstein, 1984 ).