Perceived Stress among Public School Music Educators: Stress over Time, Demographic Differences, Common Self-Identified Factors of Stress, and Relationships between Demographic Differences and Emergent Stress Themes
Abstract
Teaching frequently has been identified as a stressful occupation, warranting
numerous studies of teacher burnout, attrition, and stress. Levels of professional burnout
and attrition among educators have been shown to correlate with general levels of stress
across all aspects of life. As rates of such issues continue to function as a source of
concern within the profession, efforts to help educators manage stress and maintain
balance are of critical importance. Additionally, music educators tend to face unique
occupational stressors when compared with teachers in other content areas.
Using Cohen and Williamson’s (1988) 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS),
combined with open-ended questions based on the PSS, this mixed method study was
designed to track music educators’ perceived stress across a three month period, identify
significant differences in perceived stress as a function of selected demographic factors,
and explore emergent themes of increased and eased stress. Additionally, relationships
between emergent stress themes and significant differences in overall perceived stress
based on demographic factors were examined. Participants (N = 770) consisted of
current K-12 public school music educators in the United States who were employed on
at least a half-time basis. A series of three anonymous online surveys, administered at
one-month intervals across three consecutive months during a fall academic term, served
as the data collection instruments.
Results showed that overall PSS scores decreased significantly across three
months of data collection. Significant differences in PSS scores were found relative to
participant age, parenthood status, grade/school levels taught, and years of teaching
experience. Additionally, differences in PSS scores closely approached significance
based on participant gender. Emergent themes of increased and eased stress were
identified within 4,620 participant responses to open-ended questions. Each response
was coded using a two-part, researcher-developed qualitative codebook developed during
the data interpretation process. Comparisons were made between significantly different
demographic factors and emergent stress themes, and results were compared to related
research studies. Suggestions for future research are included. Implications for current
K-12 public school music teachers, preservice music teachers, administrators,
cooperating mentor teachers, and music teacher trainers and training programs are
discussed.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Review of literature -- Method -- Results -- Discussion -- Appendix A. Email invitations and reminders sent to participants -- Appendix B. Additional participation demographic information -- Appendix C. Online surveys xvii, 179 pages
Degree
Ph.D.