Role Conflict and Psychological Well-Being in School Teachers: A Cross-Sectional Study from Southern India

Abstract

Introduction: With mental strength being the requisite skill in this knowledge era, rather than physical strength, women seem to flood into every industry on par with men. This shift in the lives of women indeed gives them more confidence and opportunities to identify their assets, but also brings a challenge as they have to perform equally at home and at work. The attempt of working women to integrate, organize and balance the various problems and activities in their different roles simultaneously puts them under tremendous pressure. Aim: The present study endeavours to gain insight into role conflict and how it influences psychological well-being of school teachers. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the government, aided and unaided schools in Udupi, Karnataka. A total of 645 school teachers were interviewed using a self-administered questionnaire. Tools used were Netemeyer scale for role conflict, Brief COPE inventory for coping mechanism and GHQ-12 for assessing psychological well-being. Univariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were carried out to assess the association between role conflict and major variables in the study. Post-hoc test was used to identify the differences in coping among various groups. Results: Religion, age of the children and performing school related work on the weekend were found to be significantly associated with role conflict. Gender was not found to influence role conflict in the present study. No significant association was found between role conflict and psychological well-being. Active coping, religion and use of emotional and instrumental support were the most commonly adopted coping mechanisms. Conclusion: Thus, teachers must be provided a friendly working environment and they must be motivated for their psychological well-being. Stress relieving sessions also would help in balancing the work life.