Emotional intelligence, personality, stress, and burnout among educators.

Abstract

We examined the role of personal resources alongside job characteristics, and demographic factors in burnout among educators in 2 samples with emphasis on the potential role of emotional intelligence (EI). In the first, based on the literature, we hypothesized that tenure, position, and education, alongside personality, EI, and the experience of stress will show association patterns with burnout. In the second we proposed and tested a more specific mediation model in which stress level mediated the association between EI and burnout. In Study 1, 230 daycare-center employees took a brief measure of personality based on the five-factor model, measures of EI, stress symptomatology, burnout, and provided basic demographic information. In Study 2, 209 school teachers recruited online filled out the same measures. Our results suggested that only stress and EI showed unique associations with burnout; while stress showed a positive association, EI showed a moderate negative one. In the second study, the results echoed the outcomes of the first study; while stress showed a positive association, EI showed a moderate, negative association with burnout. SEM analysis supported a mediation model, in which stress mediated the association between EI and burnout. We discuss the results in light of the theory and evidence on burnout on one hand and the concept of EI on the other. Potential implications in light of cultural and organizational settings are proposed.

Burnout symptoms in forensic mental health nurses: Results from a longitudinal study

“…; Görgens‐Ekermans & Brand ; Zysberg et al . ), the results suggest that EI has a protective influence on the development of burnout symptoms. Moreover, standardized parameters suggest it has the largest influence of all four predictors.…”

“…; Görgens‐Ekermans & Brand ; Zysberg et al . ). A study in South African nurses found that higher EI is significantly associated with lower levels of job stress and burnout symptoms and that EI moderated the stress–burnout association (Görgens‐Ekermans & Brand ).…”

Profiles of Burnout, Coping Strategies and Depressive Symptomatology

“…Teachers with poor emotional intelligence tend to report higher levels of EE, DE, anxiety, depression, and burnout (Martínez-Monteagudo et al, 2019). In this manner, improving emotion regulation is likely to be accompanied by an increase in the quality and number of social relationships at work, empathy, and job satisfaction (Brackett et al, 2010;Ghanizadeh and Royaei, 2015;Yin, 2015;Zysberg et al, 2017;Yin et al, 2018). Puertas Molero et al (2019) conducted a systematic review of studies that have examined the role of emotional intelligence in stress among teachers and concluded that past findings underscore the importance of developing the emotional skills of educational professionals, including those who work in universities.…”

Job burnout: The contribution of emotional stability and emotional self‐efficacy beliefs

“…Previous studies have shown that individuals with higher self‐efficacy beliefs in managing negative emotions report less negative affect, anxiety, and depression (see Alessandri et al ., , for a review) and that negative emotional self‐efficacy beliefs predict changes in stable personality traits, such as emotional stability (Caprara, Vecchione, Barbaranelli, & Alessandri, ) and positive orientation (Caprara, Alessandri, & Barbaranelli, ). In general, studies addressing the relationship between emotional intelligence, a construct closely related although distinct from emotional self‐efficacy beliefs (see Alessandri et al ., ), and work‐related stress support a negative association of individuals’ ability to identify, process, and effectively manage emotions in order to attain goals, better adapt, and cope with challenges (see Petrides, ), stress (Chan, ; Mikolajczak, Menil, & Luminet, ; Ullrich, Lambert, & McCarthy, ), and burnout (Zysberg, Orenshtein, Gimmon, & Robinson, ).…”