Teacher-Directed Violence in Relation to Social Support and Work Stress

Abstract

Teacher-directed violence, or violence found in a school setting that involves teacher victimization (Espelage et al. in The American Psychologist, 68(2), 75–87, 2011), is a relatively new area of study in education. Teacher-directed violence or teacher victimization includes obscene gestures/remarks, harassment, verbal threats, and theft of personal property. Research on the topic began in the past decade, but still there is limited information about teacher-directed violence, particularly in the USA. Researchers need to understand how much and what types of violence teachers are subjected to in order to develop policy reform (Espelage et al. in The American Psychologist, 68(2), 75–87, 2011). Additionally, research has not examined how teachers cope after experiencing violence, such as to whom teachers turn for social support after experiencing violence, and if social support is effective in helping them cope. The current study examined type and frequency of teacher-directed violence, to whom teachers go to for social support, and the frequency of support from different sources, as well as perceived social support of teachers who experience teacher-directed violence compared to teachers who do not experience violence. This study also examined stress related to teacher-directed violence. Results revealed that teachers experience verbal violence most often, teachers go to another teacher or spouse/significant other for support, and there were no significant differences in stress for teachers who did and did not experience teacher-directed violence.