Analysis of the Degree of Satisfaction with Life Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in University Teachers

Abstract

This paper focuses on analyzing the degree of satisfaction with the life of university teachers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of social isolation. The present study adopts a quantitative and cross-sectional approach. The sample included 129 university professors, between 18 and 74 years, from the Faculty of Physical Culture Sciences of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua. Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was obtained to measure the degree of teacher satisfaction (Atienza et al., 2000; Diener et al., 1985; Pons et al., 2002). The results globally showed significant differences between life satisfaction before and during the pandemic according to the means comparison test, using the T-test for related samples, with values ​​of 4.06 before and 3.6 during the pandemic. When categorizing the results according to the escalation, it was shown that 55.7% of the teachers perceived themselves as satisfied before the pandemic, while the opposite happened during the isolation, decreasing, with only 45.5% feeling satisfied. Only 27% felt very satisfied before, and this percentage decreased to only 14.5% during isolation. The COVID-19 not only wreaked havoc on health, but it also had a negative effects on people's psychological, emotional, and social spheres, thereby modifying healthy lifestyles and leaving possible effects on physical and mental health as a consequence.