The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of emotional intelligence and social support on the burnout of sixth grade homeroom teachers in elementary schools.
The participants of this research were 189 sixth grade homeroom teachers in Dae...
The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of emotional intelligence and social support on the burnout of sixth grade homeroom teachers in elementary schools.
The participants of this research were 189 sixth grade homeroom teachers in Daegu, South Korea. To assess burnout, the measure developed by Maslach & Jackson(1981) and adapted by Hak-gu Gang (1996) and Ji-hye Lee (2010), who considered the school environment of elementary school teachers, and modified wording by Young-man Lee (2012), was used. to assess emotional intelligence, tests for adults which were developed by Yong-lin Mun (1999), whose view is on the grounds of the newest emotional intelligence model by Mayer & Salovey (1997), were used. As for social support assessment, the measure developed by Ji-won Park (1985), supplemented by Jin-hyung Lim (2000) and modified practically by Young-man Lee, was used.
The collected data was analyzed by the statistical program SPSS. To search for general characteristics of the subjects, frequencies and percentages were used, and to verify the reliability of each measure, Cronbach’s α coefficient was applied. Correlation and hierarchical multiple regression analysis was also implemented to analyze the relationship of emotional intelligence and social support on burnout.
The result of this study are as follows.
First, as a result of researching the influence of emotional intelligence on burnout, emotional perception and emotion management affected the decrease of burnout. In detail, emotional perception and emotion management have a significant influence on the decrease of emotional exhaustion. Emotional perception, empathy, and management affect the depersonalization of burnout. Also, decrease in personal accomplishment is found to be affected by emotional facilitation of thought and emotional perception.
Second, as the result of researching the influence of social support on burnout, it has been shown that informational support affects the decrease of burnout. There was no sub-factor which effects emotional exhaustion, however, depersonalization and decrease in personal accomplishment are affected by informational support.
Third, the sub-factors of emotional intelligence, which are empathy, emotional facilitation of thought, understanding and analyzing emotion, managing emotion, and emotional perception, have more of a significant influence on burnout in a hierarchical aspect than social support, which consists of emotional support, informational support, appraisal support, and instrumental support, of sixth grade homeroom teachers in elementary schools.
The implications of the study include that if the emotional intelligence of a sixth grade homeroom teacher is developed, burnout would be prevented as well as assist the teachers while they are working. Making use of these results, there needs to be a realization of the importance of burnout in sixth grade homeroom teachers and related research should be progressed consistently to explore how to reduce and eventually prevent burnout efficiently and what strategies would be the most effective to support teachers.