This study analyses the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Teacher Stress Questionnaire elaborated in England by Travers and Cooper in 1996. This Italian survey was completed by 863 teachers randomly drawn from a cross-section of Italian school levels. The construct validity of the questionnaire was verified by factor analysis and by measuring the internal consistency of the single scales. All dimensions measured by the Teacher Stress Questionnaire were compared for sample subgroups of all teacher levels. Several meaningful and reliable factors emerged from the factor analysis of the scales. The internal consistency of each scale (Cronbach's α) revealed satisfactory values. Teachers' age and school level were determining factors for all dimensions of stress explored. The Italian version of the Teacher Stress Questionnaire showed satisfactory psychometric properties and constitutes a useful and reliable measure to analyse stress in Italian schools.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BauerJ.StammA.VirnichK.WissingK.KristonL.MüllerU.WengG.StürmlingerR.WirschingM.SchaarschmidtU. (2006) Correlation between burnout syndrome and psychological and psychosomatic symptoms among teachers. International Archives of Occupational Health, 79, 199–204.
2.
BeatonD. E.BombardierC.GuilleminF.FerrazM. B. (2002) Recommendations for the cross-cultural adaptation of health status measures. Rosemont, IL: American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.
3.
BenmansourN. (1998) Job satisfaction, stress and coping strategies among Moroccan high school teachers. Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies, 3, 13–33.
4.
BortnerR. W. (1969) A short rating scale as a potential measure of Pattern A behaviour. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 22, 87–91.
5.
ByrneB. M. (1999) Teacher burnout: the nomological network. In VandenbergheR.HubermanA. M. (Eds.), Understanding and preventing teacher burnout. New York: Cambridge Univer. Press. Pp. 15–37.
6.
ChanD. W.HuiE. K. P. (1995) Burnout and coping among Chinese secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. British Journal of Educational Psycholology, 65, 15–25.
CrownS.CrispA. H. (1979) Manual of the Crown-Crisp Experiential Index. London, UK: Hodder & Stoughton.
9.
DeweP.LeiterM.CoxT. (Eds.) (2000) Coping, health and organizations. London, UK: Taylor & Francis.
10.
DunhamJ.VarmaV. (Eds.) (1998) Stress in teachers: past, present and future. London, UK: John Wiley and Sons.
11.
FarberB. A. (1991) Crisis in education: stress and burnout in the American teacher. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
12.
FlahertyJ. A.GaviriaF. M.PathakD.MitchellT.WintrobR.RichmanJ. A.BirzS. (1988) Developing instruments for cross-cultural psychiatric research. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 176(5), 257–263.
13.
Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli. (2011) Rapporto sulla scuola in Italia 2011. Roma-Bari, Italy: Laterza.
14.
FriedmanM.RosenmanR. H. (1959) Association of specific overt behavior pattern with increases in blood cholesterol, blood clotting time, incidence of arcus senilis and clinical coronary artery disease. Journal of the American Medical Association, 169, 1286–1296.
15.
GuglielmiR. S.TatrowK. (1998) Occupational stress, burnout and health in teachers: a methodological and theoretical analysis. Review of Educational Research, 68, 61–99.
LazarusR. S. (1999) Stress and emotion: a new synthesis. London, UK: Free Association Books.
18.
MaunoS.RuokolainenM.KinnunenU. (2013) Does aging make employees more resilient to job stress? Age as a moderator in the job stressor-well-being relationship in three Finnish occupational samples. Aging & Mental Health, 17(4), 411–422.
19.
NgT. W. H.FeldmanD. C. (2010) The relationships of age with job attitudes: a meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 63, 677–718.
20.
O'ConnorB. P. (2000) SPSS and SAS programs for determining the number of components using parallel analysis and Velicer's MAP test. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 32(3), 396–402.
21.
PithersR. T.SodenR. (1998) Scottish and Australian teacher stress and strain: a comparative study. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 68, 269–279.
22.
ShultzS. K.WangM.CrimminsE. M.FisherG. G. (2010) Age differences in the Demand-Control Model of work stress: an examination of data from 15 European Countries. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 29(1), 21–47.
23.
SmithA.BriceC.CollinsA.MatthewsV.McNamaraR. (2000) The Scale of Occupational Stress: a further analysis of the impact of demographic factors and type of job. Cardiff, UK: Health and Safety Executive.
24.
SutherlandV. J.CooperC. L. (1988) Sources of work stress. In HurrellJ. J.Jr.MurphyL. R.SauterS. L.CooperC. L. (Eds.), Occupational stress: issues and developments in research. London, UK: Taylor & Francis.
25.
TraversC. J.CooperC. L. (1996) Teachers under pressure: stress in the teaching profession. London, UK: Routledge.
26.
UnterbrinkT.HackA.PfeiferR.Buhl-GrießhaberV.MüllerU.WescheH.FrommholdM.ScheuchK.SeibtR.WirschingM.BauerJ. (2007) Burnout and effort-reward-imbalance in a sample of 949 German teachers. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 80, 433–441.
27.
Van DickR.WagnerU. (2001) Stress and strain in teaching: a structural equation approach. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 243–259.
28.
WarrP.CookJ.WallT. (1979) Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well-being. The Journal of Occupational Psychology, 52, 129–148.
29.
ZurloM. C. (2013) Dimensioni dello stress degli insegnanti Italiani e Tedeschi: studio comparativo con il modello Effort-Reward Imbalance [Stress dimensions of Italian and German teachers: a comparative study with the Effort-Reward Imbalance Model]. In SchafrothE.NicklausM.SchwarzerC.ConteD. (Eds.), Italien, Deutschland, Europa: kulturelle identityäten und interdependenzen [Italy, Germany, Europe: cultural identities and interdependences]. Oberhausen, Germany: Athena. Pp. 233–251.
30.
ZurloM. C.PesD.CooperC. L. (2007) Stress in teaching: a study of occupational stress and its determinants among Italian schoolteachers. Stress & Health, 23(4), 231–241.
31.
ZurloM. C.PesD.SiegristJ. (2010) Validity and reliability of the Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire in a sample of 673 Italian teachers. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 83, 665–674.
32.
ZurloM. C.PesD. (2012) Effort-Reward Imbalance e salute psicofisica degli insegnanti. Giornale Italiano di Mediana del Lavoro ed Ergonomia (Supplemento B, Psicologia), 34(2), 81–87.
