IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i22p15021-d973036.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relationship between Teacher Autonomy and Mental Health in Primary and Secondary School Teachers: The Chain-Mediating Role of Teaching Efficacy and Job Satisfaction

Author

Listed:
  • Yujue Peng

    (Research Center of Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)

  • Huimin Wu

    (Research Center of Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)

  • Cheng Guo

    (Research Center of Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China)

Abstract

Teachers in primary and secondary schools are frequently under pressure. Therefore, it is critical to understand the factors that affect their mental health. Autonomy was associated with mental health in the past. However, the mediating mechanism behind this relationship has received little attention. In this study, a chain mediation model was built to determine whether teaching efficacy and work satisfaction mediated the relationship between teacher autonomy and mental health. Our study enlisted the participation of 810 Chinese primary and secondary school teachers aged from 21 to 57 years old. They completed self-reporting measures of teacher autonomy, mental health, teaching efficacy, and job satisfaction. The results show that (1) teacher autonomy, teaching efficacy, job satisfaction, and mental health have strong positive relationships, (2) teaching efficacy and job satisfaction significantly mediate the relationship between autonomy and mental health, and (3) both teaching efficacy and job satisfaction play a chain-mediating role. The chain-mediating effect of teaching efficacy and job satisfaction plays an important role in promoting teachers’ mental health. Teachers with a high level of autonomy tend to have high teaching efficacy, high job satisfaction, and improved mental health.

Suggested Citation

  • Yujue Peng & Huimin Wu & Cheng Guo, 2022. "The Relationship between Teacher Autonomy and Mental Health in Primary and Secondary School Teachers: The Chain-Mediating Role of Teaching Efficacy and Job Satisfaction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-9, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:15021-:d:973036
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/15021/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/15021/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Henrique Pereira & Gergely Fehér & Antal Tibold & Graça Esgalhado & Vítor Costa & Samuel Monteiro, 2021. "The Impact of Internet Addiction and Job Satisfaction on Mental Health Symptoms among a Sample of Portuguese Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-11, June.
    2. Yang, Ruijuan & You, Xuqun & Zhang, Yu & Lian, Ling & Feng, Wei, 2019. "Teachers’ mental health becoming worse: The case of China," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Chia-Huei Wu & Aleksandra Luksyte & Sharon Parker, 2015. "Overqualification and Subjective Well-Being at Work: The Moderating Role of Job Autonomy and Culture," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 121(3), pages 917-937, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gábor Kósa & Gergely Feher & Lilla Horvath & Ivan Zadori & Zsolt Nemeskeri & Miklos Kovacs & Éva Fejes & Janos Meszaros & Zoltan Banko & Antal Tibold, 2022. "Prevalence and Risk Factors of Problematic Internet Use among Hungarian Adult Recreational Esports Players," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-11, March.
    2. Deng, Hong & Guan, Yanjun & Wu, Chia-Huei & Erdogan, Berrin & Bauer, Talya & Yao, Xiang, 2018. "A relational model of perceived overqualification: the moderating role of interpersonal influence on social acceptance," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67547, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Ethel N Abe & Isaac I Abe & Ziska Fields & Ganiyu O Idris, 2018. "Work-Family Stressors and Work-Family Satisfaction: Effect of Sense of Coherence at a Metropolitan Municipality," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(2), pages 74-88.
    4. Ma, Chao & Lin, Xiaoshuang & Chen, (George) Zhen Xiong & Wei, Wu, 2020. "Linking perceived overqualification with task performance and proactivity? An examination from self-concept-based perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 199-209.
    5. Dominik Buttler, 2022. "Employment Status and Well-Being Among Young Individuals. Why Do We Observe Cross-Country Differences?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(1), pages 409-437, November.
    6. Samuel Sixpence & Leonard Muzanenhamo & Wilfred Ukpere, 2022. "Linkage between rewards and workspace morale in a hyperinflationary environment," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 11(10), pages 63-77, December.
    7. Osama Khassawneh & Tamara Mohammad & Munther Talal Momany, 2022. "Perceived Overqualification and Job Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Manager Envy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, December.
    8. Qiufeng Huang & Kaili Zhang & Ali Ahmad Bodla & Yanqun Wang, 2022. "The Influence of Perceived Red Tape on Public Employees’ Procrastination: The Conservation of Resource Theory Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-16, April.
    9. Mohammed Alzubaidi, 2020. "The impact of overeducation on job outcomes: Evidence from Saudi Arabia," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 9(4), pages 104-120, July.
    10. Wu, Chia-Huei & Tian, Amy & Luksyte, Aleksandra & Spitzmueller, Christiane, 2017. "On the association between perceived overqualification and adaptive behavior," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 66320, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    11. Bao Cheng & Xing Zhou & Gongxing Guo & Kezhen Yang, 2020. "Perceived Overqualification and Cyberloafing: A Moderated-Mediation Model Based on Equity Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 565-577, July.
    12. JoAnn Lee & Andrew Crooks, 2021. "Youth and Their Artificial Social Environmental Risk and Promotive Scores (Ya-TASERPS): An Agent-Based Model of Interactional Theory of Delinquency," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 24(4), pages 1-2.
    13. Merce Mach & Aristides I Ferreira & Luis F Martinez & Antonina Lisowskaia & Grace K Dagher & Amalia R Perez-Nebra, 2018. "Working conditions in hospitals revisited: A moderated-mediated model of job context and presenteeism," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-15, October.
    14. Zhanxue Gong & Fang Sun & Xiyuan Li, 2021. "Perceived Overqualification, Emotional Exhaustion, and Creativity: A Moderated-Mediation Model Based on Effort–Reward Imbalance Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-17, October.
    15. Yarid Ayala & José Ma. Peiró Silla & Núria Tordera & Laura Lorente & Jesús Yeves, 2017. "Job Satisfaction and Innovative Performance in Young Spanish Employees: Testing New Patterns in the Happy-Productive Worker Thesis—A Discriminant Study," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 1377-1401, October.
    16. Rexomar D. Perez & Dennis V. Madrigal, 2021. "Exploring the Health Conditions and Practices of Public School Teachers: A Phenomenological Study," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 20(1), pages 156-162, June.
    17. Yi-Jung Wu & Xiaojie Xu & Jingying He, 2021. "Gender, Educational Attainment, and Job Quality in Germany, Sweden, and the UK: Evidence from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-16, November.
    18. Ruubel, Raul, 2018. "Time dimensions of job autonomy in R&D work," SocArXiv n62qd, Center for Open Science.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:15021-:d:973036. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.