Burnout Syndrome Predictors in Teachers and Professors: Differences by Level of Education in Brazil

Abstract

The burnout syndrome is a psychosocial phenomenon that occurs as a chronic response to occupational stressors. Teachers are considered a risk group for developing the syndrome. Teachers do not belong to a homogeneous group, as within this categorization there are differences in roles and responsibilities and different risks of developing burnout syndrome. This study aimed to verify whether there was any difference in the prediction of occupational stressors, regulatory focus, and emotional labor as variables of burnout syndrome, depending on different levels of education. Participants were 1,284 Brazilian teachers and professors who answered an online instrument, including the Spanish Burnout Inventory, the General Regulatory Focus Scale, the Emotion at Work Scale, and the Evaluation Scale of Psychosocial Stressors. The results revealed that there are differences between each other, confirming that the explanatory variables depend on the specificities of each level of education, allowing for actions to be proposed according to each group.