Absenteeism, burnout and symptomatology of teacher stress: sex differences

Abstract

Although numerous studies have been carried out confirming the high levels in the symptomatology of stress and depression in the teaching profession, research focusing on the sex differences in these problems has been both scarce and inconclusive. The objective of this study is to analyze the differences with regards to sex in the incidence of absenteeism, work-related stress, symptomatology of depression, level of burnout and psychiatric symptomatology. The sample consists of 71 teachers, 31 men and 40 women, all of them from Secondary Education. The tools used were the Questionnaire of Teacher Burnout (CBP-R), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Symptomatology Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and a socio-demographic and work-situation questionnaire. Female teachers were expected to report higher level of absenteeism whereas their male counterparts were expected to show higher levels of symptomatology, burnout, particularly in Depersonalization, and similar levels of depressive symptoms are expected in both sexes. Results show sex differences only in Somatization, which mean was significantly higher in women than in men, and in the types of illness that caused sick leaves. In conclusion, this research support the results of other studies that have not found different patterns of stress, burnout and depression between female and male teachers.