Associations between teacher stress and school leadership: A mixed methods study with implications for school psychologists.

School psychologists have the psychological and consultative expertise necessary to support teachers who are vulnerable to stress. Transactional theory offers a lens to guide such support, as it posits that each teacher's unique appraisals of their work demands and resources determine the degree to which they are at risk for stress. This study used a multiphase sequential mixed method design with a transactional theory lens to examine the association of leadership quality and stability with teachers' ratings of workplace conditions. The four phases consisted of (a) input from an expert panel, (b) scale development and validation, (c) interviews with key informants, and (d) multilevel modeling informed by all previous phases. Through key informant interviews, district-level administrators provided ratings of the quality and stability of school leadership. The researchers examined the associations between these ratings and teacher appraisals of classroom demands, classroom resources, job satisfaction, and perceived levels of instructional support collected via a district-wide climate survey. Multilevel models with key informant ratings and school characteristics at Level 2 (Nschools = 47) and teacher characteristics and perceptions at Level 1 (Nteachers = 1,850) demonstrated that the quality and stability of school leadership were associated with teachers' appraisals of their occupational demands and resources, job satisfaction, and ratings of instructional support. Findings show that the quality and stability of school leadership play an important role in the incidence of stress vulnerability, suggesting important pathways for school psychologists seeking to promote the occupational health of teachers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Response Differences in Appraisals of Working Conditions among Elementary and High School Teachers.

Research using the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) has consistently demonstrated that teachers' reported working conditions are related to both intentions to leave the profession and attrition (Tickle, Chang, and Kim, 2011). However, limited research evaluates teacher appraisals of job-related demands and resources as an antecedent to job dissatisfaction. We tested for differential item functioning (DIF) using a partial credit model approach within a Rasch modeling context to examine whether elementary and secondary teachers with similar overall stress levels respond to the NTPS Demands and Resources items in similar ways. For the Demands items, seven of the items displayed differences that were negligible, four were intermediate, and three items indicated large DIF contrasts. For the Resources items, 10 items displayed differences that were negligible, two were intermediate, and zero items indicated large DIF contrasts. These results indicate elementary and secondary teachers exhibit different appraisal patterns, suggesting implications for the development and use of survey data in public school settings in general, and for the use of the NTPS data in particular.