Stress vulnerability in the first year of teaching

Abstract

ABSTRACT Stress is increasingly being linked to teacher turnover. This study examined 1,750 first-year U.S. public school teachers’ classroom-specific appraisals of demands and resources as indices of risk for stress, which was then used to predict their career trajectories in subsequent years. Data from the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative survey of U.S. teachers new to the profession in 2007–2008, tracked teacher mobility for five years. One overarching research question guided our study: Are teachers who appraise their overall classroom demands as exceeding classroom resources in their first year more likely to move schools or leave the profession in subsequent years? Using longitudinal weights, the results of bivariate and logistic regression analyses showed that group membership was associated with occupational mobility in subsequent years. These results provide evidence that new teachers’ risk for stress can be operationalized by comparing early-career teachers’ perceptions of classroom demands vis-à-vis classroom resources.