Can perceived teacher support buffer school exhaustion and stress in students?

Abstract

Over the course of school years, secondary school students report increasingly high levels of stress and fatigue which impairs their academic success and health. The buffering hypothesis has shown that social support can mitigate perceived stress levels. However, the supportive role of teachers - as well as the differentiated function of support - has rarely been investigated and has not been taken into account in longitudinal study designs. This study addresses this research gap by means of questionnaire data and latent moderated structural equation (LMS) analysis of secondary school students (N = 733; M Age = 13.78; SD = 0.67; 52% girls) at two measurement points to investigate whether the perceived academic support as well as the socio-emotional support from the teaching staff moderates the development of general stress and school exhaustion over a school year. The results of the LMS indicate that controlling for gender, school type and grades, academic support contributes to a decrease in school exhaustion over the school year. In sum, the findings suggest that specific forms of support from teachers impact the stress and school exhaustion experience of students differently. Hence, these results offer a nuanced view on how the perceived support of teachers is related to students' stress and can therefore provide a baseline for stress interventions and prevention studies. The earlier and the more continuously students receive support from their teachers, the better stress and school exhaustion can be prevented.