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Teachers during the COVID-19 Era: The Mediation Role Played by Mentalizing Ability on the Relationship between Depressive Symptoms, Anxious Trait, and Job Burnout

Author

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  • Annalisa Levante

    (Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
    Lab of Applied Psychology, Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Serena Petrocchi

    (Lab of Applied Psychology, Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
    Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Università della Svizzera Italiana, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Federica Bianco

    (Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24100 Bergamo, Italy)

  • Ilaria Castelli

    (Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, 24100 Bergamo, Italy)

  • Flavia Lecciso

    (Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
    Lab of Applied Psychology, Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak caused severe changes in school activities over the past two years. Teachers underwent a re-planning of their teaching approaches, shifting from face-to-face teaching formats to remote ones. These challenges resulted in high levels of burnout. The identification of risk/protective factors contributing to burnout is crucial in order to inform intervention programs. Thus, we hypothesized a mediation role of teachers’ mentalizing ability (processing of emotions, a component of mentalized affectivity) on the relationship between depression, anxiety, and depersonalization (burnout dimension). Two reverse models were computed. Job satisfaction, teachers’ age and gender, school grade, and length of teaching experience served as covariates. Methods: 466 (M(sd) = 46.2 (10.4) years) online questionnaires were completed by Italian teachers of primary (n = 204) and middle (n = 242) schools. Measures of burnout, depression, anxiety, and mentalization were administered. Results: The findings corroborated our hypotheses: in all models, processing emotions served as a mediator on the relationship between depression, anxiety, and depersonalization, and on the reciprocal one. Job satisfaction positively impacted processing emotion, and negatively impacted depression and depersonalization; women teachers reported high levels of the anxious trait. Conclusions: Overall, it can be concluded that the ability to mentalize has a beneficial impact on teachers’ well-being. Policymaking, clinical, and research implications were discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Annalisa Levante & Serena Petrocchi & Federica Bianco & Ilaria Castelli & Flavia Lecciso, 2023. "Teachers during the COVID-19 Era: The Mediation Role Played by Mentalizing Ability on the Relationship between Depressive Symptoms, Anxious Trait, and Job Burnout," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:1:p:859-:d:1023195
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petrocchi, S. & Iannello, P. & Lecciso, F. & Levante, A. & Antonietti, A. & Schulz, P.J., 2019. "Interpersonal trust in doctor-patient relation: Evidence from dyadic analysis and association with quality of dyadic communication," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Annalisa Levante & Serena Petrocchi & Costanza Colombi & Roberto Keller & Antonio Narzisi & Gabriele Masi & Flavia Lecciso, 2022. "The Effect of Sleep–Wake Routines on the Negative Emotional States and Aggressive Behaviors in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) during the COVID-19 Outbreak," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-12, April.
    3. Turgut Karakose & Ramazan Yirci & Stamatis Papadakis, 2022. "Examining the Associations between COVID-19-Related Psychological Distress, Social Media Addiction, COVID-19-Related Burnout, and Depression among School Principals and Teachers through Structural Equ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-19, February.
    4. Federica Bianco & Annalisa Levante & Serena Petrocchi & Flavia Lecciso & Ilaria Castelli, 2021. "Maternal Psychological Distress and Children’s Internalizing/Externalizing Problems during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Moderating Role Played by Hypermentalization," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-15, October.
    5. Teresa Rinaldi & Ilaria Castelli & Andrea Greco & David M Greenberg & Elliot Jurist & Annalisa Valle & Antonella Marchetti, 2021. "The Mentalized Affectivity Scale (MAS): Development and validation of the Italian version," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(4), pages 1-22, April.
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