Challenge and hindrance stress among schoolteachers

Abstract

The challenge–hindrance stress framework argues that certain job stressors have entirely detrimental effects (hindrance stress), but some may also have beneficial effects (challenge stress). Though the challenge–hindrance framework has largely been neglected in teacher stress research, we adopted it to provide a more differentiated view of the most prominent stressors in the teaching profession. We asked a sample of 528 secondary schoolteachers to report the extent to which they perceived occupation‐specific stressors as motivating (challenge stress) and burdening (hindrance stress). Most stressors (those associated with sociopolitical pressure, students’ misbehavior, and lack of resources) were seen as a hindrance rather than a challenge. Only stressors associated with expanded job scope seem to have had more challenge than hindrance potential. Teachers’ hindrance (but not challenge) stress in turn was a strong predictor of psychophysiological symptoms. Importantly, hindrance stress was highest and also the most significant predictor of psychophysiological symptoms if it arose from sociopolitical pressure. In sum, the results indicate that the challenge–hindrance framework might serve as a useful theoretical background in the field of teacher stress research and could offer another explanation for the poor health reported by this occupational group.

So far, so good: Up to now, the challenge–hindrance framework describes a practical and accurate distinction

“…Both approaches have been used, and the issue of measurement is that studies have found interesting results 1 , with support for both measuring appraisals directly (e.g., Searle & Auton, 2015;Stiglbauer & Zuber, 2018) or as rated by expert coders (e.g., Cavanaugh et al, 2000;Crawford, LePine, & Rich, 2010;LePine et al, 2005). From the resource approach, appraisals may not matter very much if it is reasonable to assume that most employees appraise job demands as challenging and work overload as hindering.…”

“…But the employees' appraisals of them as some degree of challenge and hindrance might help our research, theorizing, and practice. For example, one study used data collected from 582 schoolteachers who rated 15 stressors as challenges and also as hindrances (Stiglbauer & Zuber, ). They found that stressors appraised more as hindrances were related to more strains (e.g., fatigue, tension, cardiovascular distress, musculoskeletal disorders, and digestive complaints) than were challenge appraisals.…”

“…Regarding appraisals, a nuanced factor may be that if the items in an overload scale use terms like “too much” work, the employee's answer may be formed from an implicit kind of appraisal that the work is hindering, even if the researcher did not ask specifically whether the work is hindering or challenging. If researchers wish to more clearly follow the appraisal approach to challenge–hindrance stressors however, they need to directly assess those appraisals for individual employees (e.g., as in Stiglbauer & Zuber, ; Webster et al, )).…”

Identities Hidden in Challenges: The Sequential Mediation of Thriving at Work and Employee Investment

“…Cruwys et al (2014) revealed that a better level of social identification along with physical and emotional well-being is reached due to challenge stress. Stiglbauer and Zuber (2018) emphasized that management of stress is essential for organizations as well as for individuals, which helps to moderate the consequences of stress by assembling capabilities at a personal level. This finding is also discussed by Wang et al (2017), which strengthens the evidence that challenge stressors are imperative to formulate different identities.…”

“…Second, drawing on the broaden-andbuild theory (Fredrickson, 2001), the current study augments the emergent literature on identity orientation by justifying challenge stressors as its antecedent. Theoretically, in the previous literature, the concept of challenge stressors has been widely supported by transactional stress theory (Salanova et al, 2011;Amah, 2014;Stiglbauer and Zuber, 2018) and the conservation of resource theory (Hobfoll, 1989(Hobfoll, , 2012Hobfoll et al, 2012Hobfoll et al, , 2018. However, the mechanism which relates challenge stressors to the particular identity is still under-discussed.…”