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Job Satisfaction and Cortisol Awakening Response in Teachers Scoring high and low on Burnout

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Luis Moya-Albiol ,
Miguel Ángel Serrano  and
Alicia Salvador
Luis Moya-Albiol*
Affiliation:
Universitat de València (Spain)
Miguel Ángel Serrano
Affiliation:
Universitat de València (Spain)
Alicia Salvador
Affiliation:
Universitat de València (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Luis Moya-Albiol. Departamento de Psicobiologìa. Facultad de Psicologìa. Universidad de Valencia. Avenida Blasco Ibàñez, 21. 46010 Valencia. (Spain). Phone: +34-963864635. Fax: +34-963864668. E-mail: Luis.Moya@uv.es
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Abstract

The burnout syndrome is an important psychosocial risk in the job context, especially in professions with a strong social interaction, as in the case of teaching. High levels of burnout have been related to negative psychological indicators and hormonal alterations. This study compares job satisfaction and the cortisol awakening response (CAR) in teachers scoring high (HB) and low (LB) on burnout. HB teachers showed lower job satisfaction and no significant differences in the CAR when compared with the LB group. The results of the study suggest a general dissatisfaction with work along with a different functioning of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis in HB teachers. Although non significantly, they showed a lower magnitude of the CAR than LB teachers. When considering the whole sample, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization correlated negatively and personal accomplishment positively with each subscale of the job satisfaction questionnaire whereas cortisol levels or CAR did not correlate significantly with both burnout subscales and job satisfaction. These results should be taken into account when working to prevent burnout in teachers, as the modified parameters could be considered indicators of the onset or development of the syndrome.

El sìndrome de estar quemado o burnout es un factor importante de riesgo psicosocial en el contexto laboral, especialmente en profesiones que tienen una alta interacción social, como es el caso de la enseñanza. En este sentido, altos niveles de burnout han sido asociados a indicadores psicológicos negativos y a alteraciones hormonales. El objetivo de este trabajo es comparar la satifacción laboral y la respuesta matutina de cortisol en profesores con altas y bajas puntuaciones en burnout. Los profesores con altas puntuaciones en burnout mostraron menor satisfacción laboral que los de puntuaciones bajas, aunque no se encontraron diferencias significativas en la respuesta matutina de cortisol. Estos resultados sugieren que los profesores con altas puntuaciones en burnout tienen una estado general de insatisfacción en el trabajo, junto a una ligera alteración del funcionamiento del eje hipotàlamo-hipófiso-adrenal, ya que aunque las diferencias no alcanzaron la significación estadìstica, estos profesores mostraron menor respuesta matutina de cortisol que los de puntuaciones bajas. Al considerar toda la muestra, las subescalas de despersonalización y cinismo se asociaron negativamente mientras que la de eficacia profesional lo hizo positivamente con la satisfacción laboral. Por otro lado, no se obtuvieron correlaciones significativas entre los niveles de cortisol o la CAR y las diferentes subescalas de burnout o la satisfacción laboral. Estos resultados tienen que ser tenidos en cuenta para trabajar en la prevención de burnout en profesores, ya que los paràmetros alterados podrìan ser considerados como indicadores de la aparición o desarrollo del sìndrome.

Keywords

burnoutjob satisfactionawakening cortisol responseteachersexperimentburnoutsatisfacción laboralrespuesta matutina de cortisolprofesoresexperimento
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , November 2010 , pp. 629 - 636
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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