Absenteeism, Burnout and Symptomatology of Teacher Stress: Sex Differences

Although numerous studies have been carried out confirming high levels in symptomatology of stress and depression in the teaching profession, research focusing on sex differences in these problems has been both scarce and inconclusive. The aim of this study is to analyse differences with regards to sex in the incidence of absenteeism, work-related stress, symptomatology of depression, level of burnout and psychiatric symptomatology. The sample consists of 71 Secondary teachers, 31 men and 40 women. The tools used were the Questionnaire of Teacher Burnout (CBP-R), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Symptomatology Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and a socio-demographic and worksituation questionnaire. Results showed sex differences only in the types of illness that caused sick leaves in men (50% otorhinolaringologycal) and in women (50% psychiatric), and in some of the correlations between Role Stress-Burnout and psychiatric symptomatology that were higher for women than for men. In conclusion, this research supports the results of other studies that have not found different patterns of stress, burnout and depression between female and male teachers.