The Relationship Between Classroom Management, Coping Styles, and Stress

One of the major demands that contributes to the stress of teachers is how to manage students' problem behaviors in the classroom. However, coping strategies may buffer the effects that classroom management styles have on stress levels in teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between classroom management styles and stress and how coping may moderate this relationship. Participants included 94 teachers from across northern and central Illinois. Indifferent classroom management style was associated with higher levels of stress, though no other significant correlations were found among stress and classroom management styles. Emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping were significant predictors of stress, but coping did not moderate the relationship between classroom management and stress. The implications, limitations, and direction of future research are discussed. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT, COPING, & STRESS 7 The Relationship Between Classroom Management, Coping Styles, and Stress Teaching has become a more demanding profession over the past few decades. As a result, teacher stress is increasing and job satisfaction is declining (Collie, Shapka, & Perry, 2012; Klassen, 2010; Malik & Ajmal, 2010). Lack of classroom management has been listed as one of the top causes of teacher stress (Clunies-Ross, Little, & K.ienhuis, 2008; Collie et al., 2012; Klassen, 2010). In order to combat stress in the workplace, a variety of coping strategies are used, including emotion-focused coping and problemfocused coping. The purpose of this study is to examine classroom management styles relation to stress, and how coping buffers the relationship between classroom management and stress. Literature Review Stress Psychological stress refers to the relationship between the person and the environment, in which the person appraises the environment to be demanding, taxing, or exceeding his or her resources (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Stress occurs in situations where individuals appraise demands to exceed their ability to cope (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), which can lead to symptoms of anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic complaints (Austin, Shah, & Muncer, 2005). Individuals deal with stress in unique ways. A person's judgment of stress depends on cognitive appraisal (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), which is a function of individuals' values, sensitivity, vulnerability, and interpretation of events. Individuals appraise a situation to determine its stressfulness. According to Frinker and Spiegel (1945) this "requires mental activity involving judgment, discrimination, and choice of CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT, COPING, & STRESS activity based largely on past experience" (as cited in Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Thus, unique personal experiences play a large role in stress appraisal. 8 Stress can be due to a variety of emotional, physical, social, and economic factors (Sarmah & Baruah, 2012). Various occupations have been thought to be more or less stressful than others due to the combination of these factors. Recently teaching has been labeled as a highly stressful profession (Collie et al., 2012; Malik & Ajmal, 2010). The demands of teachers are becoming increasingly more strenuous and teachers are reported to be feeling a higher level of stress. Up to one third of teachers have reported to be stressed or extremely stressed (Collie et al., 2012). In addition, teachers report feeling that little attention is paid to their personal needs and wellbeing, and this too is leading to increased stress levels (Margolis & Nagel, 2006). Teacher stress, specifically, is the experience of negative emotions in teachers as a result of job-related work in the classroom and within the school system (Kyriacou, 2001 ). More than 40% of teachers have indicated that they have experienced severe symptoms of stress due to an ever-demanding workload (Austin et al., 2005). Teachers feel unable to meet the demands asked of them due to the limited resources that are given to them within the school setting (Lambert, McCarthy, O'Donnell, & Wang, 2009). As a result, teachers have become more resistant to change or reform and felt increased levels of stress because of little support for implementation and lack of resources, insufficient time, lack of opportunities for professional growth, lack of social support and lack of collaboration with administrators (Margolis & Nagel, 2006). This indicates while more is being demanded of teachers, the resources, support, time, and opportunities for growth