[Organizational roles, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, and mental health of teachers regarding affective organizational commitment].

Abstract

To examine multiple relations between organizational roles, work-family conflict, job satisfaction, mental health, and affective organizational commitment among basic education teachers, a cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 438 respondents, to whom the Scale for the Assessment of Psychosocial Stressors in the Workplace (EAEPCL, acronym in Portuguese), the General Job Satisfaction Scale, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and the Reduced Affective Organizational Commitment Scale (ECOA, acronym in Portuguese) were applied. Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling and the estimated measurement model indicated convergent and discriminant validity, as well as reliability regarding the latent variables used. Direct effects of conflict and role ambiguity on job satisfaction, common mental disorders (CMD) and affective organizational commitment were observed, as well as indirect effects on the latter two mediated by job satisfaction. As for role overload, its direct effects occurred only in relation to job satisfaction, the latter mediating the effect of the former on CMD and affective commitment, whereas work-family conflict mediated the effect of role overload on CMD. These results highlight the harmful effects of role stressors and job (dis)satisfaction on the mental health of teachers by making them more vulnerable to developing CMD and indicate how these can affect results of interest to the institutions studied, such as affective commitment in school organizations.