Burnout Syndrome at School: A Comparison Study with Lay and Consecrated Italian Teachers

Abstract

A questionnaire was administered, composed of the Maslach Burnout Inventory as well as of questions regarding social-demographic information such as gender, age, and seniority According to the literature, we expected to find a higher burnout level among lay than among consecrated teachers. Secondly, we expected to find lower burnout risk in lay teachers of private school than in public school teachers. Participants were 469 Italian teachers (97% female) divided in three groups: lay teachers from public school (N=153), lay (N=153), and consecrated teachers (N=153) from private Catholic school. Consecrated teachers of Catholic school showed a higher mean score in the depersonalization scale than both their lay colleagues from private school (F=24.155, p<.001), and lay teachers from public school (F=4.7, p=.031). In addition, teachers from public school showed a higher mean score in the depersonalization scale than the Catholic school teachers (F=52.58, p<.001). Consecrated teachers had a lower mean score also in the scale of personal accomplishment scale in comparison with their colleagues from private Catholic school (F=11.56, p<.001), while no difference emerged between consecrated and lay teachers from public school. Finally, lay teachers from Catholic school presented a higher average score in the personal accomplishment scale than their colleague in public school (F=10.138, p=.002). Inconsistently with our hypothesis consecrated teachers appeared more exposed to burnout syndrome. Moreover, lay teachers of private Catholic schools have showed lower level of burnout than their lay colleagues.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1p501