Irish educators: an evaluation of the effect of age, gender, experience, job satisfaction and personality on stress
Authors
Waller, Patricia
Issue Date
2008
Degree
BA in Psychology
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
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Abstract
The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of particular variables on stress experienced by Irish educators in the primary, secondary and third level education sectors in Ireland. In a cross-sectional design, 108 educators from the primary (female=20, male =20) secondary (female=20, male =16) and third level (female=11, male =21) sector participated. Three questionnaires were used: the Minnesota Satisfaction short-form Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawis, England & Lofquist, 1967), the QUASK Stress Test (Prentice & Elliot, 2006) and the Life Orientation Test-Revised (Scheier, Carver and Bridges, 1994). Predictor variables were age, gender, experience, job satisfaction and personality traits. The criterion variable was the total stress score. The results indicate that there is a moderate relationship between stress and job satisfaction particularly among primary sector educators [r=-.424, n=108, p<.01]. However, there is little support for the effects of optimism and age, gender, experience and job satisfaction on stress among participants. Strengths and limitations and future research directions are discussed.