Study finds connection between stressed-out teachers and stressed-out students

A new study from the University of British Columbia suggests teacher burnout may be linked to elevated levels of stress in students.

Eva Oberle, an assistant professor in the School of Population and Public Health, collected over 400 saliva samples from elementary school students and found elevated levels of cortisol a hormone related to stress in the students of teachers who reported feeling burned out and exhausted.

"Possibly more teachers who experience burnout come into the classroom [and] have a harder time to respond to student needs, have a harder time to manage classrooms effectively and well and classroom climates can deteriorate and become chaotic and this can be very stressful for students," Oberle told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn.

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"We also know lots of students come into the classroom feeling stressed, they're feeling anxious, they're experiencing mental health problems, so it's also possible that these are classrooms which are very challenging for teachers to teach, so, as a consequence, it's possible teachers [have] higher burnout as a result."

Oberle says her hunch is that the stress felt by the teacher makes the stress felt by the students even worse, and vice versa.

"Stress is contagious, and we know that from stressful situations in families or stress in a work situation," she said. "So the classroom climate is very important if we want to promote student wellbeing and make sure students are thriving."

Oberle says her research points to the need to adequately support teachers with the necessary resources to deal with challenging situations in the classroom, including emotional situations.

Oberle's research was published in the journal Social Science and Medicine.

With files from CBC Radio One's On The Coast

To hear the full story, click the audio labelled:Study finds elevated stress hormone levels in students of stressed-out teachers