The role of adult attachment orientation in the burnout and job satisfaction of Greek teachers

Abstract

A country’s success greatly depends on the education it provides to the younger generations. Teachers’ well-being, as agents of the educational process, is central to the quality of the education provided. Teacher burnout and job satisfaction constitute issues of increasing concern in Greece augmented by societal and technological developments. Attachment theory has only recently started to be used for the investigation of the role of individual differences in applied workplace settings. To date, no known studies have been performed in Greece investigating the relationship between attachment and burnout or job satisfaction in Greek teachers. This study aimed to fill this gap through an online survey. The sample consisted of 158 teachers currently working in Greek public and private schools. Attachment anxiety was a significant predictor of the emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation components of burnout, and attachment style had a significant effect on all components of burnout through ANOVA analysis. The regression models between secure and insecure attachment and teachers’ overall job satisfaction, as well as the different dimensions, except for one, were significant in line with the hypothesis, however there was no unique contribution of the predictors. There were significant mean score differences between secure and insecure teachers in most dimensions of job satisfaction. Only secure and fearful teachers differed significantly in their mean scores of their overall job satisfaction. The results of this research may be used for teacher training and could provide valuable input in the much-needed implementation of a major structural change in the Greek educational system.