Effort-Reward, Demand-Control and Satisfaction with Life: A Study with Elementary Teachers

Abstract

In our country there doesn’t exist enough information about psychosocial factors that affect teacher’s mental health, which it’s an obstacle for the policies implementation that fight against this issue. Psychosocial factors of labor risk in teaching work are barely studied and is required to link personal factors of life satisfaction and those of labor risk to realize about the way personal perceptions can cushion the impacts of labor risks. The objective of this investigation was to study with elementary school teachers, the comparison between life satisfaction, effort-reward perception and demand- control with the following factors: sex, age, antiquity in teaching, time in the workplace and attention to students with special educational needs. A retrospective design with a descriptive and comparative scope was used. The studied population consisted of 185 elementary school teachers of Cajeme, Sonora. In order to collect the information, the Diener Life Satisfaction Scale, the Labor Stress Questionnaire (Effort-Reward Imbalance) in its Venezuelan version, validated by Díaz and Feldman, and the General Health Questionnaire of Goldberg were applied. Deciles were obtained for every one of the variables. The demand-control variable obtained the value of 3.00 in the first decile, which places 22 people (11.9%) below this value, this means they are at risk of a mental health problem. On the other hand, on the perception of effhort-reward variable 21 individuals (11.4%) presented levels below the first decil with a 2.68 value and, so, unbalanced. By last, the firs decil value was 3.40 for 22 people (11.9%) which represent the lowest levels on the satisfaction with life scale. The comparisons showed that the number of students with special educational needs attended influenced the variables of satisfaction with life, perception of effort-reward and demand-control, since as the number of attended students increased, the average in the three variables decreased. On the other hand, time is a significant factor in the effort-reward variable since with increasing age, years of service and antiquity in the workplace the average in this variable decreased. There is a relation between the variables of satisfaction with life, effort-reward and demand-control with temporality factors (age, years of service and antiquity in the workplace), however, it is considered necessary to inquire into that aspect. It is important to highlight that progress in the study of psychosocial factors that can affect job satisfaction and health in teachers is essential for decision making around policies for education improvement in Mexico. It is necessary to expand this type of research including teachers of different levels and contexts, from public and private schools, in order to obtain more accurate information.