Current Psychology https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9878-7

Mental health in teachers: Relationships with job satisfaction, efficacy beliefs, burnout and depression Vincenza Capone 1

&

Giovanna Petrillo 1

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract Several studies showed that mental well-being varies based on employment status. A comprehensive assessment of well-being, covering both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects, has been considered essential to capture an individual’s positive mental health. Aims: Based on the classification proposed in the Mental Health Continuum model by Keyes (2005), aims were to estimate teachers’ prevalence of mental health, and to examine the associations between mental health and, respectively, burnout, depression, teacher self-efficacy, teacher collective efficacy and job satisfaction, taking into account the job status. 285 high school teachers completed a self-report questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational analyses. Findings showed that 38.7% of participants were flourishing, 53.2% were moderately mentally healthy, and 8.2% were languishing. The flourishing group reported lower prevalence of depression and burnout, and higher levels of job satisfaction and efficacy beliefs than the other two groups. Significant differences between the permanent and temporary teachers emerged. Interventions to improve teachers’ well-being should take into account factors as teachers’ self-efficacy, collective efficacy, as well as teachers’ perception of job satisfaction, and the adverse impact that the condition of temporary teacher could have on work. Keywords Mental health continuum (MHC) . Job satisfaction . Teacher . Job status . Burnout . Efficacy beliefs

Introduction During recent years there has been a major shift from research focusing on distress symptoms to research focusing on the ability to maintain mental well-being by attaining satisfaction from life and by expressing positive affect (Folkman 2008). Researchers in positive psychology have long called for this shift, a change in focus from the sole investigation and repair of human shortcomings, deficits and pathologies, to the construction and implementation of individual strengths, resources, and well-being (Keyes 2007). They also called for the strengthening of positive aims to achieve the mental well-being necessary for positive functioning (Keyes et al. 2008). According to the Mental Health Continuum Model (Keyes 2005, 2006, 2007), mental health, like mental illness, is a syndrome of symptoms. Positive mental health is not

* Vincenza Capone [email protected] 1

Department of Humanities, University Federico II of Naples (Italy), Via Porta di Massa, 1, 80133 Naples, Italy

simply the absence of mental disorder but as the presence of positive qualities. It includes three domains: emotional, psychological, and social well-being. So, a comprehensive assessment of well-being, covering both hedonic, subjective wellbeing (feeling good and satisfied), and eudaimonic well-being, including psychological (functioning well on both intrapersonal and interpersonal levels) and social well-being (capturing individuals’ appraisals of their own circumstances and functioning in society) has been considered essential to capture an individual’s positive mental health (Jovanović 2015; Keyes 2005). BThe mental health continuum consists of complete and incomplete mental health. Adults with complete mental health are flourishing in life with high levels of well-being. To be flourishing, then, is to be filled with positive emotion and to be functioning well psychologically and socially. Adults with incomplete mental health are languishing in life with low wellbeing. Thus, languishing may be conceived of as emptiness and stagnation, constituting a life of quiet despair that parallels accounts of individuals who describe themselves and life as Bhollow,^ Bempty,^ Ba shell,^ and Ba void^ (Keyes 2002, p. 607). Keyes (2002, 2005) affirmed that a diagnosis of mental health is made when an individual shows high levels on at least one symptom of hedonia and on just over half of the symptoms

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of eudaimonia (the number of symptoms depends on the scales used to measure the different dimensions of well-being: see paragraphs Data analysis and Measures). Under this condition, individuals are diagnosed as flourishing in life. When individuals report low levels on at least one symptom of hedonia and on just over half of the symptoms of eudaimonia, they are diagnosed as languishing. A diagnosis of moderate mental health is done when individuals are neither flourishing nor languishing. To have Bcomplete mental health^, one must be flourishing and free of most common mental disorders over the past year. Research has supported the hypothesis that anything less than complete mental health results in increased impairment and disability (Salama-Younes 2013; Westerhof and Keyes 2010). Adults diagnosed as completely mentally healthy functioned superior to all others in terms of reporting the fewest workdays missed, fewest workdays cutback by one-half, and the highest level of psychosocial functioning and work productivity (Keyes 2007). Furthermore, in the Two-continua Model of mental health, Keyes (2005) affirms that positive mental health is related to, but different from, mental illness. One continuum indicates the presence or absence of mental health, the other the presence or absence of mental illness. An individual may be suffering from mental illness (e.g., depressive episode, generalized anxiety, panic disorder) and have a relatively high positive mental health at the same time (Westerhof and Keyes 2010; Petrillo et al. 2015). Conversely, the absence of psychopathology is neither necessary nor sufficient to ensure an individual lives a productive, fruitful, and actualized life. A combined diagnosis of mental health and mental illness predicted psychosocial functioning better than a single diagnosis does, viewing mental health and mental illness as complementary (Keyes 2005, 2007). The experience of mental well-being at work is very significant as it leads to many positive consequences. Several studies showed that this varies based on employment status (Khumalo et al. 2012; McDaniel and Keyes 2012). The comprehensive assessment, including hedonic and eudaimonic well-being should be applied to the analysis of professional work, and more specifically to the workplace (Czerw 2017). Teaching is viewed as a very high-stress profession. The stress and emotional demands associated with this profession can lead to emotional exhaustion, cynical attitudes about teaching, and lower job satisfaction (Skaalvik and Skaalvik 2011). Literature emphasizes the importance of helping teachers to increase their job satisfaction and mental well-being and in order to reduce depression and burnout (Hamama et al. 2013; Lloyd et al. 2009), and to improve work performance (Schaufeli et al. 2009). Within the framework of the Mental Health Continuum (Keyes 2005), the main purpose of this article was to investigate the relationship between teachers’ mental well-being, malaise (operationalized as depression and burnout) and

teacher self-efficacy, teacher collective efficacy and job satisfaction, taking into account the job status. In the next paragraphs we briefly discuss the key variables included in the study.

Job Satisfaction and Well-Being Locke (1969) defined job satisfaction as a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences. It is a key in work and occupational psychology. Warr (1994) focused on well-being at work, including the construct of job satisfaction. The author affirmed that the relationships with job-related antecedents are stronger for job-related well-being, thus potentially offering a better understanding of how particular work characteristics affect employees’ well-being. Regarding well-being context free, studies highlighted that employees satisfied with their work can spill over those feelings to outside the work context, and studies found a significant positive relationship between job satisfaction and satisfaction with life (Tadić et al. 2013), as well as psychological and social well-being (Capone and Petrillo 2012; Capone et al. 2013). In line with such findings, we expected to find a significant and positive relationship between job satisfaction and mental well-being. We also expected higher levels of job satisfaction in flourishing teachers than in moderately mentally healthy and languishing teachers.

Burnout, Depression and Well-Being in Teachers Burnout and depression are important aspects of teachers’ psychological health that can lead to negative personal and work effects. According to Maslach et al. (2001, p. 397), burnout is a Bprolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job^. From the psychosocial perspective, burnout consists of three components: emotional exhaustion, a feeling of cynicism, and a sense of personal and professional inefficiency (Maslach et al. 2001). Of these three components, Schaufeli and Salanova (2007) considered emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (or cynicism) as the most central features of burnout. Also teacher burnout studies indicated that emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are the central elements of burnout (Skaalvik and Skaalvik 2010; Panari and Simbula 2016). In teacher burnout, depersonalization refers to negative, cynical attitudes and feelings about one’s students or colleagues; emotional exhaustion includes physical exhaustion characterized by low energy and chronic fatigue (Pines and Aronson 1988). Levels of stress and burnout experienced by teachers are related to health and psychological problems. Studies in different cultures showed that the measure of teacher burnout was negatively associated with mental health as well as teacher’ job satisfaction (Caprara et

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al. 2006), and efficacy beliefs (Petrillo and Donizzetti 2013; Skaalvik and Skaalvik 2007, 2010). Research has shown that many teachers suffer from depression compared to other workers (Bauer et al. 2007). Similar to burnout, depression is one of the psychological strains that represent a maladaptive reaction to life stressors. In a recent study across 18 US States, Schonfeld and Bianchi (2016) found that teachers’ burnout strongly correlated with depression, leading the authors to assume a conceptual overlap between these two variables. Papastylianou et al. (2009) highlighted that teachers’ depression was related to role conflict ambiguity. In some longitudinal studies, an increase in job burnout was found to predict an increase in depressive symptoms (Hakanen and Schaufeli 2012; Hung et al. 2016). Burnout and depression resulted to be related to mental wellbeing in a recent study with Taiwan teachers (Hung et al. 2016). Based on these findings, it is reasonable to expect that mental well-being is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and depression.

Teachers’ Efficacy Beliefs and Well-Being Teacher self-efficacy refers to teachers’ judgment of their capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning (Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy 2001). According to social cognitive theory, self-efficacy makes a difference in how people think, feel, and act (Bandura 1997). A lot of studies have found that teacher self- efficacy is related to teachers’ burnout, job satisfaction, and mental well-being (Skaalvik and Skaalvik 2007, 2010). Caprara et al. (2003) found that high-school teachers, who believed in their ability to accomplish teaching tasks and cope with classroom difficulties, report greater value and happiness concerning the teaching profession. Based on these findings, it is reasonable to expect teacher self-efficacy to be related to mental well-being, emotional exhaustion, cynicism and, depression. Teacher collective efficacy, which refers to Bthe perceptions of teachers in a school that the effort of the faculty as a whole will have a positive effect on students^ (Goddard et al. 2000, p. 480) has been considered to be an important predictor in explaining differences in teacher effectiveness, and a factor that protect against burnout and depression (Lim and Eo 2014; Yang and Farn 2005). Besides, collective efficacy is an emergent group-level attribute (Bandura 1997): positive relations with colleagues and superior are very important in building shared values and norms and create a collective goal orientation. Recent studies, involving public employees, found that a high level of collective efficacy beliefs is one of the effective factors in determining experienced teachers’ psychological, emotional and social well-being (Capone and Petrillo 2016). In our study, we thus considered both personal and collective efficacy beliefs and their association with well-

being, burnout and depression. We also expected higher levels of burnout and depression in languishing teachers than in flourishing and moderately mentally healthy teachers.

Type of Contract Workers exposed to job insecurity and job changes are ever increasing, but studies among temporary workers are underrepresented in the literature (Borgogni et al. 2016). Especially in Italian context, the continuous government reforms have been deeply affecting the school system and temporary teachers are a very important component of school system. These types of contracts are a source of uncertainty for teachers. Contract teachers perceive themselves as more insecure in their job, that they have little influence or control over their role-related duties and also feel that their skills are underutilized (Feather and Rauter 2004). Italian teachers with temporary employment showed high levels of job insecurity and malaise (Forcella et al. 2009). They are involuntary contingent workers on fixed-term contracts who would prefer permanent employment as teachers. Furthermore, the perception of job insecurity was correlated with anxiety. On the subject, according to Roskies and Louis-Guerin (1990) job insecurity has a strong negative impact on mental health. A recent study by Çetin and Turan (2013) highlighted a positive, though weak, relationship between job insecurity, burnout and job dissatisfaction. We, therefore, expected the presence of higher proportion of permanent teachers compared to temporary teachers in the flourishing group. We would expect temporary teachers to feel less satisfied in their jobs and more burning out when compared with the permanently employed teachers.

The Present Study To the best of our knowledge, no study has targeted mental well-being among high school teachers, within the Mental Health Continuum model (Keyes 2005). Aims of the study were to estimate the prevalence of mental well-being among participants and examine the incidence of depression and burnout in Mental Health Continuum categories. A further aim was to explore the association between teacher mental well-being and some variables related to psychosocial assets in work place, such as job satisfaction and teacher efficacy beliefs, also taking into account the job status (permanent versus temporary). Based on the above mentioned empirical results (see introduction), the following hypotheses were advanced: Hypothesis 1- We expected that the diagnostic categories in the categorical assessment of Mental Health Continuum distinguish levels of burnout, depression, job satisfaction, self-efficacy and collective efficacy

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between flourishing, moderately mentally healthy, and languishing individuals. Hypothesis 2- We expected that Mental Health Continuum (MHC) and its sub-dimensions were negatively correlated with measures of depression, and burnout. Mental Health Continuum and its sub-dimensions were expected to be positively and significantly correlated with job satisfaction, teacher self-efficacy and teacher collective efficacy. Hypothesis 3 – We expected the presence of higher proportion of permanent teachers compared to temporary teachers in the flourishing group. Hypothesis 4 - A significantly higher level of job satisfaction, self-efficacy and collective efficacy were expected in permanent teachers than in temporary teachers. A significantly higher level of reported burnout and depression were expected in temporary teachers than in permanent one.

Material and Methods Participants A convenient sample of 285 Italian high school teachers from different Italian regions, mainly in Central and Southern Italy, participated in the present study. Of the participants, 83.5% had over 10 years of teaching experience. They were mainly female (76.8%), between 29 and 65 years old (M = 48.94; SD = 7.33). Gender distribution is consistent with national level statistics showing that the most of high school teachers in Italy are female (ISTAT 2016). Of the respondents n = 158 were permanent teachers, and n = 127 temporary teachers. They taught scientific subjects (40%); literature (36%); foreign languages, especially English (20%); and care (4%).

Measures Questionnaire measures consisted of published self-report scales. The Italian Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHCSF, Petrillo et al. 2015) consists of 14 items on 6-point scales ranging from 0 = never to 5 = everyday. It measures the degree of emotional well-being (EWB, in this study α =. 81, e.g. of item: BDuring the past month, how often did you feel happy^), social well-being (SWB, in this study α = .76, e.g. of item: BDuring the past month, how often did you feel that you belonged to a community^), and psychological well-being (PWB, in this study, α = .86, BDuring the past month, how often did you feel that you had warm and trusting

relationships with others^). Cronbach’s alpha for MHC-SF was .90 in this study. The Job Satisfaction Scale (JOB_S, Warr et al. 1979) considers job satisfaction as a global feeling about the job and a related constellation of attitudes about various aspects or facets of the job. A seven-point Likert type scale (from 1 = very dissatisfied to 7 = very satisfied) with 17 items. An example of item is: BHow satisfied are you with your principal?^ Cronbach’s was .90 in this study. The Teacher Self-efficacy Scale (TSS, Borgogni et al. 2001): 9 items that measure teachers’ beliefs in their ability to effectively handle various tasks, obligations, and challenges related to their professional role. For each item (e.g. BI am able to appreciate me as a teacher by all students^), teachers rated on a 7-point response format (from 1 = strongly disagree, to 7 = strongly agree) their agreement with each question. Cronbach’s alpha was .96 in this study. The School Collective Efficacy Scale (SCES, Borgogni et al. 2001): 9 items measure teachers’ individual perceptions about their school’s collective capabilities to influence student achievement, and it is based on teachers’ analysis of the teaching staffs’ capabilities to effectively teach all students. For each item, teachers rated on a 7-point response format (from 1 = strongly disagree, to 7 = strongly agree) their agreement with each question. An example of item is: BOur school always knows how to get out of trouble^ In this study, Cronbach’s alpha was .95. The Burnout Inventory- General Survey (MBI; Maslach et al. 1996, Italian version by Borgogni et al. 2005) is a survey to measure burnout. We decided to use the general survey, and not a specific version for teachers and educational context, because MBI is the most widely used instrument for assessing burnout (Maslach et al. 2001). So, this scale will allow a rather fast comparison with other workers’ populations. In this study, Emotional exhaustion (MBI_E, An example of item is: BI feel emotionally drained from my work^) and Depersonalization (MBI_D, An example of item is: BI feel I treat some students as if they were impersonal objects^) These two dimensions are typically considered the most central features of burnout (for a review, see Maslach et al. 2001). Responses are given on a 7-point scale from never (0) to every day (6). Cronbach’s alpha for emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were .72 and .89. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; Italian version by Fava 1983) measures symptoms of depression in community populations. The scale is a composite of 20 items. Subjects are asked to rate each item on a scale from rarely or none of the time, less than 1 day (0), to most or all of the time; 5–7 days (3), on the basis of BHow often you have felt this way during the past week^. An example of item is: BI’m scared^. In this study, α = .92.

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Finally, the questionnaire collected details about the teacher’s age, sex, and teaching type of contract (permanent contract or a fixed term contract of up to one year).

works best in data set where there are an equal number of participants, we decided to use it rather than multi-level modeling, considering more accurate for small sample sizes (Maas and Hox 2005).

Procedures Researchers obtained a convenience sample of teachers from the Italian public schools. A researcher administered the questionnaire sets, at school during a break of a work. All except 33 teachers willingly agreed to cooperate and completed a pencil and paper questionnaire. No compensation for participation was provided. Completion lasted 20–30 min. Teachers received an explanation of the study aims and reassurance of anonymity, confidentiality, and use of their responses solely for the purposes of the research. Subjects gave their informed consent.

Data Analysis Data analyses were accomplished using the SPSS 21.0 software. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the characteristics of the respondents and the study variables. A multicorrelation matrix was calculated to examine the bivariate correlations among all of the measured continuous variables. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between all the variables. We computed mental health categorical diagnosis based on Keyes (2005) classification. Teachers were diagnosed with flourishing mental health if they experienced at least 1 of the 3 symptoms of hedonic well-being (EWB)Bevery day^ or Balmost every day^ and at least 6 of the 11 positive functioning symptoms (SWB and PWB) Bevery day^ or Balmost every day^ in the past month. Teachers were diagnosed with languishing mental health if they experienced at least 1 of the 3 symptoms of hedonic well-being (EWB) Bnever^ or Bonce or twice^, and reported 6 of the 11 positive functioning symptoms (SWB and PWB) Bnever^ or Bonce or twice^ during the past month. Teachers who were neither languishing nor flourishing were diagnosed with moderate mental health. Concerning mental illness, the CES-D provides cutoff scores that aid in identifying individuals at risk for clinical depression. Three categories can be identified: normal (ratings ranged from 0 to 15), moderate (ratings ranged from 16 to 23), severe (ratings ranged from 23 to 60) depression level. We treated the two dimensions of MBI separately to create three categories for each dimension (Maslach et al. 1996): normal (ratings <2.20), moderate (ratings ranged from 2.20 to 3), severe (ratings >3) burnout level. A hierarchical loglinear analyses and chi-square tests was then performed to investigate the association among type of contract, and categorical diagnosis of mental well-being. Factorial ANOVAs were calculated to compare levels of variables across teachers. Even if a Factorial ANOVA relies on relatively strict assumptions concerning the variability of subjects and

Results Mental Well-Being, Depression and Burnout among Teachers Table 1 summarizes the descriptive statistics and correlations obtained for this study. Notably, negative correlations between mental well-being, burnout and depression were detected. The categorical diagnosis of Mental Health Continuum showed that 38.7% of the teachers were flourishing (n = 104), 53.2% reported moderate mental health (n = 143), and 8.2% were languishing (n = 22). Table 2 illustrates the percentage distributions of depression, and burnout by mental health diagnosis. At the sample level, severe ratings were reported by 23.9% participants for depression, 22.1% for emotional exhaustion and 9.5% for depersonalization. Severe rating of depression was reported by 85.7% languishing teachers. Independent Loglinear analyses concerning Bmental health classification x depression classification^, Bmental health classification x emotional exhaustion classification^, and Bmental health classification x depersonalization classification^ reveled a significant association between mental health and depression (χ2 (4) = 80.52, p < .001), emotional exhaustion (χ2 (4) = 24.20, p < .001) and depersonalization (χ2 (4) = 47.40, p < .001). Examination of the adjusted standardized residuals showed that a higher number of flourishing participants fell into the normal range of depression, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization, and a lower number of them fell into the moderate range compared to moderately mentally healthy and languishing teachers. One-way analyses of variance, using continuous variables as dependent variables, were conducted while dividing the teachers into flourishing, moderately mentally healthy, and languishing groups. Table 3 presents the mean levels of the scales reflecting psychosocial assets. Pairwise contrasts using the Tukey Honestly Significant Difference Test were used to test whether mean psychosocial assets and psychopathology differed by diagnosis of mental health. All measures of psychosocial assets were higher in flourishing individuals than in those who were moderately mentally healthy and languishing. In turn, measure of psychopathology (CES-D and MBI dimension of emotional exhaustion) were lower in flourishing teachers than in those who were moderately mentally healthy or languishing. Levels of depersonalizations were higher among languishing and moderately mentally healthy teachers than flourishing teachers.

Curr Psychol Table 1

Descriptive statistics and correlations among measures Mean

SD

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

–

1. MHC

2.95

.94

2. EWB

3.12

1.19

.84**

–

3. SWB 4. PWB

2.06 3.58

1.07 1.02

.83** .91**

.57** .72**

– .59**

–

5. TSE 6. SCES

4.71 4.46

1.47 1.00

.56** .45**

.51** .42**

.31** .32**

.62** .42**

– .55**

–

7. JS

4.71

1.47

.52**

.47**

.41**

.48**

.52**

.65**

–

8. CES_D 9. MBI_E

17.92 2.18

8.29 1.41

−.62** −.23**

−.61** −.29**

−.39** −.13*

−.63** −.20**

−.55** −.23**

−.38** −.17**

−.53** −.31**

– .39**

–

10. MBI_D

1.60

1.04

−.26**

−.25**

−.14*

−.29**

−.35**

−.22**

−.39**

.42**

.45**

–

* p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; MHC = Mental Health Continuum; EWB = Emotional well-being; SWB = Social well-being; PWB = Psychological well-being; TSE = Teacher self-efficacy scale; SCES = School Collective efficacy scale; JS = Job satisfaction scale; CES-D = Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; MBI_E = Emotional exhaustion; MBI_ D = Depersonalization

Type of Contract: Differences As indicated by Table 4, significant differences between the permanent and temporary groups on indices of mental wellbeing were evident: values were higher for permanent teachers than for temporary ones. With regard to the work sphere, values of job satisfaction and efficacy beliefs were higher for permanent teachers than for temporary. All measures of malaise were higher in temporary teachers than in permanent ones, except for emotional exhaustion, where no difference emerged. A hierarchical loglinear analysis and chi-square tests was then performed to investigate the association among job status, and categorical diagnosis of mental health. Findings showed that a higher number of permanent teachers compared to temporary teachers fell into the flourishing group (25.3% permanent teacher; 13.4% temporary teachers; χ2 (2) =10.18, p < .001).

Discussion and Conclusion Well-being at work has received increasing attention in the scientific community and among practitioners (Allan et al. 2016). The present study was an attempt to investigate both Table 2

mental health and malaise (depression and burnout) in high school teachers within the Mental Health Continuum model (Keyes 2005). To our knowledge, this is the first study that, following the classification proposed by Keyes (2005), estimated the prevalence of mental well-being in teachers. In line with previous studies, with general population (Keyes 2005, 2006; Joshanloo et al. 2017; Petrillo et al. 2014, 2015), this study highlighted independent effects of mental health on a number of indicators of work functioning. Our findings supported the three-categories diagnosis of mental health proposed by Keyes (2007). They indicated that flourishing teachers performed better than individuals who were languishing or who had moderate mental health in terms of measures of psychosocial assets. Flourishing is associated with desirable outcomes such as low depression, low burnout and enhanced personal and collective efficacy beliefs, as well as job satisfaction, deserving further attention in view of wellbeing promotion. These results suggest also a promising line for future research on the Mental Health Continuum with specific categories of workers. The study aimed to explore the implications of mental health in terms of incidence of mental distress among participants compared to the languishing and moderately healthy groups, a higher number of flourishing teachers were in the normal range of depression and burnout. This is particularly

Percentage distribution of mental distress among languishing, moderately mentally healthy and flourishing teachers Depression level

Languishing (n = 22) Moderately mentally healthy (n = 143) Flourishing (n = 104) Total sample (N = 285)

Burnout: Emotional exhaustion

Burnout: Depersonalization

Normal

Moderate

Severe

Normal

Moderate

Severe

Normal

Moderate

Severe

– 47.5% 76.0% 52.5%

14.3% 25.9% 21.1% 23.6%

85.7% 26.6% 2.9% 23.9%

22.7% 31.5% 52.9% 38.3%

27.3% 43.3% 35.6% 39.6%

50.0% 25.2% 11.5% 22.1%

50.0% 44.1% 70.2% 53.7%

13.6% 51.0% 22.1% 36.8%

36.4% 4.9% 7.7% 9.5%

Curr Psychol Table 3

Mean level of psychosocial assets and psychopathology by categorical diagnosis of mental health Mentally unhealthy, languishing n = 22

Moderately mentally healthy n = 143

Mentally healthy, flourishing n = 104

F

ñ2

Job satisfaction

3.226a

4.33b

4.94c

35.91

.13

Teacher self-efficacy Collective Teacher efficacy

3.64a 3.14a

5.30b 4.48b

5.97c 5.31c

53.99 26.87

.10 .16

Depression (CES-D, sum)

33.19a

18.04b

13.58c

84.36

.08

Emotional exhaustion Depersonalization

3.14a 2.42a

2.36b 1.65b

1.72c 1.29c

12.60 12.90

.07 .05

All F-tests p < 0.001 (two–tailed). All df = 2, 266. Subscripts a, b and c show graphically the results of the Tukey test. Mean is significantly different from another mean if they do not share the same letter

psychological resources to cope with the grave emotional demands placed on them by the school context. These findings pinpoint the importance of imparting teachers with personal skills and with social skills in order to promote well-being and job satisfaction and cope better with burnout and depression. Hence, boosting teachers’ confidence in their capability essential for increasing the overall well-being and probably to improve the performance of the school (Caprara et al. 2003). Also, participatory planning (Arcidiacono et al. 2010) and school community development could contribute to promote collective efficacy and teachers’ well-being. After all, improve the well-being of teachers could have implications for students’ educational outcomes, and also for their social and emotional development. Emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and depression were negatively related to teacher self-efficacy, collective teacher efficacy and job satisfaction. In particular, teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction were more strongly related to depression than to burnout. Our results suggest that these positive variables require special attention from policymakers. Furthermore, considering the differential set of correlating variables with burnout and depression, findings contribute to the ongoing debates in heath psychology about the nature of the association between burnout and depression (Schonfeld

interesting because more insight into the occupational variables related to well-being, depression and burnout in teachers could give further directions for the improvement of their workplaces and jobs. Particularly, a greater level of understanding about teacher well-being can consequently inform efforts to enhance positive outcomes of school teachers. As predicted results highlighted a negative association between the three dimensions of mental health and mental illness considering both depression and burnout. The results of our study suggest that well-being and malaise are related but distinct concepts (Keyes 2005), considering their moderate associations. These results suggest that they are clearly distinguishable each other. So, the presence of teachers with symptoms of well-being and malaise simultaneously could suggest that symptoms of mental health and symptoms of mental illness do not reflect opposite ends of the same continuum (Keyes 2005; Petrillo et al. 2015). These results provide some useful insights for the conception of mental health and the treatment and prevention of mental illness. However, this hypothesis should be further explored. Teacher self-efficacy, collective teacher efficacy and job satisfaction were positively correlated with mental health and its sub-dimensions. Teachers need a set of personal Table 4 Job status differences based on ANOVA

Permanent Teachers (n = 158) Mental Health Emotional well-being Social well-being Psychologycal well-being Job satisfaction Teacher self- efficacy Collective Teacher efficacy Depression (CES-D, sum) Emotional exhaustion Depersonalization All df = 1, 283

Temporary Teachers (n = 127)

F

exact p

ñ2

3.09

2.78

8.68

.001

.034

3.25 2.23 3.69 4.65 5.59 5.03 16.80 2.26 1.41

2.95 1.85 3.43 4.20 5.23 4.30 19.33 2.18 1.88

4.43 9.11 14.21 4.44 6.83 7.81 6.74 .72 12.00

.04 .001 .001 .01 .03 .001 .001 .40 .001

.018 .034 .018 .053 .029 .064 .022 .001 .041

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and Bianchi 2016), suggesting that burnout and depression are related but distinct concepts (Schaufeli and Enzmann 1998). These results underline the role of job related constructs such as self-efficacy and job satisfaction in affecting teachers’ psychosocial risks. They are rather relevant for the study of mental well-being in relation to mental illness in specific work contexts (Çetin and Turan 2013). The job demands–resources model (Demerouti et al. 2001) suggests that structural aspects of the school, such as large school size, age of students, challenge the school’s functioning, and stability increase demands on teachers which in turn is likely to affect teachers’ efficacy and well-being (Avanzi et al. 2018; Hoy et al. 1990). Additional research is needed with various set of schools, in order to further explore potential contextual influences on well-being, burnout and depression. Nonetheless, type of contract was taken into consideration in this research. Until recently, job insecurity which is thought to be only applicable for private sector, has begun to influence employees in the public sector as well (Çetin and Turan 2013). In this study, contract teachers felt that their skills were underutilized and experienced low level of well-being. In contrast, the permanently employed teachers had secure jobs, more responsibilities and felt themselves to be able in tasks that required more experience as teachers and as school. These findings suggest the need to reduce the feeling of job insecurity in teachers. Job status was also linked to job satisfaction: permanent teachers were more satisfied of their work then temporary teachers. Thus, holding a permanent and secure teaching job with its associated work characteristics provided a context in which mental well-being, personal and collective efficacy and job satisfaction were high. Relating differences in burnout level, the present study found no difference in emotional exhaustion between the temporary and permanent teachers, which is inconsistent with our hypotheses. The prevalence of depersonalization, instead, was higher among temporary teacher. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization are separate constructs which are influenced by different processes but which affect each other in a reciprocal manner (Skaalvik and Skaalvik 2010). We may advance the interpretative hypothesis that teacher is a highly stressful career, and both permanent than temporary teachers are frequently under high pressure: so, both categories experience emotional exhaustion, that is considered as the core element of burnout (Maslach et al. 2001). This result emphasizes the importance of monitoring the level of burnout among all teachers, also in order to design preventive interventions. In comparison with their permanent colleagues, the contract teachers tend to be more emotionally distant from their students. This attitude might be the result of a dysfunctional approach to what they consider to be their institutional role. Temporary teachers know that they will have to change schools: so, when they are in stressful situations, tend to invest less effort in their relationships (Capone and Petrillo 2016).

Depersonalization is characterized by impaired and distorted perception of oneself, of others and one’s environment and it manifests itself as an affective-symptomatic lack of empathy (Maslach et al. 1996). This feeling is directly correlated with depression. This could have important consequences both on temporary teachers’ motivation and students’ well-being. It is therefore essential that school leaders try to reduce negative and stressful work everyday situations for teachers (CanoGarcìa et al. 2005). In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of temporary teachers. That will require a thorough analysis of their roles and responsibilities, how teaching is organized, as well as the need for different types of resources and support. Even if the cross-sectional nature of this study makes it difficult to determine causality, these findings have implications for the interventions targeted at teachers. Planning development programs and their evaluation methods in a more targeted and effective way means to take into account factors as teachers’ self-efficacy, collective efficacy, as well as teachers’ perception of job satisfaction, especially when the type of contract is supposed to affect teachers’ well-being. Indeed, effects of these kind of interventions in terms of teachers’ health and well-being should not be overrated the adverse impact that condition of temporary teacher could have on their mental health and illness. This means that effort to improve teachers’ working condition should be tailored to defined goals and values (Skaalvik and Skaalvik 2010). Besides, if teachers are involved in school policy decisions and maintain positive relations with their supervisor and colleagues it is probable that external pressures and demands can be better identified and mitigated (Van Droogenbroeck et al. 2014). In any case, an Italian legislation ensuring the greater part of the teachers with temporary employment could achieve a stable position may increase the perception of well-being and the health-related consequences. The findings need to be considered in light of some limitations. This is a cross-sectional study, the potential causal directions between variables need to be determined by longitudinal studies. The estimated correlations (and their directions) indicate the need to undertake further research to identify the institutional and personal determinants that may underlie the pathways for these associations. Furthermore, due to the limitations of self-report data the findings are biased by teachers’ perceptions: it will be important to use behavioral observations as well as self-reports so as to minimize common method variance. Moreover, self-report instruments have the potential for social desirability bias. Although we need to consider this limitation, it is reasonable to think that our data are not highly influenced by this bias because anonymity was guaranteed in data collection (Roccato 2006). We involved a convenient Italian sample: it is needed to identify whether this result can be reproduced in a representative sample. The sample was not balanced by gender.

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Therefore, future studies should investigate the specific and combined contribution of demographic variables for teachers’ mental well-being, burnout and depression. The sample was not balanced by age or work experience. In future studies it will be very important to verify the relation between type of contract and years of experience.

Compliance with Ethical Standards Conflict of Interest The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors are responsible for the content and writing of this article. Ethical Approval All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments. Informed Consent Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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