Student Teachers’ Stress and Social Problem-Solving Skills

Abstract

In this study we examined the relationship between stress and social problem-solving skills in student teachers. Results did not show any significant increase in social problem skills at the end of student teaching in 117 primary education student teachers at Laval University in Quebec City. Similarly, stress did not significantly increase. Our results suggest that the more student teachers increase their social problem-solving skills over the course of their student-teaching experience, the less their stress increases. The training of certain social problem-solving skills (problem orientation, generation of alternative solutions, cognition and emotion strategies) could be a promising method for reducing student teachers’ stress. The more we teach student teachers to manage their emotional stress and relax after school or work (relaxation potential), the more they will succeed in reducing their anxiety and overcoming depression.