Abstract
Caregivers' locus of control and a number of their personal characteristics and working conditions were investigated in relation to the amount of stress (burnout) experienced by 120 day care workers in 24 different centers. Results showed staff with a more internal locus of control reporting greater feelings of personal accomplishment. In addition, caregivers of infants were found less likely to be experiencing “burnout” than were caregivers of older children. While amount of input into center decisions, caregivers' education, and experience were found related to feelings of emotional exhaustion, findings of some previous research were not supported by the results of this study.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barad, C.B. (1979).Study of burn-out syndrome among Social Security Administration field public contact employees. Unpublished report, Social Security Administration.
Belsky, J. & Steinberg, L.D. (1978). The effects of day care: A critical review.Child Development, 49 929–949.
Belsky, J., Steinberg, L.D., & Walker, A. (1982). The ecology of day care. In M. Lamb (Ed.),Non-traditional families: Parenting and child development. Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). Contexts of childrearing: Problems and prospects.American Psychologist, 34(10), 844–850.
Cherniss, C., Egnatios, E.S., & Wacker, S. (1976). Job stress and career development in new public officials.Professional Psychology, 7(4), 428–436.
Couture, K. (1983). Burn-out and locus of control in day care staff. Unpublished Masters Thesis, Iowa State University, Ames.
Freudenberger, H.J. (1974). Staff burn-out.Journal of Social Issues, 30(1), 159–165.
Freudenberger, H.J. (1975). The staff burn-out syndrome in alternative institutions.Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 12(1), 73–82.
Freudenberger, H.J. (1977). Burn-out: Occupational hazard of the child care worker.Child Care Quarterly, 6(12), 90–99.
Fuqua, R.W. (1981). The impact of a resource center and training program on family day care: A longitudinal study. A paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Education Research Association.
Johnson, J.H. & Sarason, I.G. (1978). Life stress, depression and anxiety: Internal-external control as a moderator variable.Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 22 205–208.
Kyriacou, C. & Sutcliffe, J. (1979). A note on teacher stress and locus of control.Journal of Occupational Psychology, 52 227–228.
Lazarus, R.S. (1966).Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lefcourt, H. (1976). Locus of control and the response to aversive events.Canadian Psychological Review, 17 202–209.
Lefcourt, H. (1982).Locus of control: Current trends in theory and research. Second edition. Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.
Maslach, C. (1978). The client role in staff burn-out.Journal of Social Issues, 34(4), 111–124.
Maslach, C. & Jackson, S.E. (1979). Burned-out cops and their families.Psychology Today, 12(12), 59–62.
Maslach, C. & Jackson, S.E. (1981).Maslach Burnout Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.
Maslach, C. & Jackson, S.E. (1981a). The measurement of experienced burnout.Journal of Occupational Behavior, 2 99–113.
Maslach, C. & Pines, A. (1977). The burn-out syndrome in the day care setting.Child Care Quarterly, 6 100–113.
Mattingly, M. (1977). Sources of stress and burn-out in professional child care work.Child Care Quarterly, 6(2), 127–137.
McIntyre, T. (1981). An investigation of the relationships among teacher burnout, locus of control, and selected personal/professional factors in special education teachers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Connecticut.
Meadow, K.P. (1981). Burnout in professionals working with deaf children.American Annals of the Deaf, 126(1), 13–22.
Nowicki, S. & Duke, M.P. (1974). A locus of control scale for college as well as non-college adults.Journal of Personality Assessment, 38 136–137.
Nowicki, S. & Strickland, B.R. (1973). A locus of control scale for children.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40 148–155.
Pines, A. & Maslach, C. (1978). Characteristics of staff burnout in mental health settings.Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 29 233–237.
Reed, M.J. (1977). Stress in live-in child care.Child Care Quarterly, 6(2), 114–120.
Rotter, J.B. (1966). Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement.Psychological Monographs, 80 (1, Whole No. 609).
Ruopp, R. (1979). Children at the center: Final report of the national day care study. Cambridge: Abt Associates.
Schwab, R.L. (1980). An analysis of the relationship between role conflict, role ambiguity, personal variables and perceived burnout among teachers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Connecticut.
Seligman, M.E.P. (1975),Helplessness. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman.
Strahan, R. (1980). More on averaging judge's ratings: Determine the most reliable composite.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48 587–589.
Sutton, B. (1977). Consideration of child care work: Observations of child care work experiences.Child Care Quarterly, 6(2), 121–126.
Whitebook, M. (1984). Caring for children at work. In J.T. Greenman & R.W. Fuqua (Eds.),Making daycare better: Training, evaluation and the process of change. New York: Teachers College Press.
Whitebook, M., Howes, C., Darrah, R. & Friedman, J. (1982). Caring for the caregivers: Staff burnout in child care. In L. Katz (Ed.),Current topics in early childhood education. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Company.
Zabel, R.H. & Zabel, M.K. (1982). Factors in burnout among teachers of exceptional children.Exceptional Children, 49 261–263.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The study was conducted by Kristin Couture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Science degree at Iowa State University.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fuqua, R., Couture, K. Burnout and locus of control in child day care staff. Child Youth Care Forum 15, 98–109 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01121154
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01121154