Subjective wellbeing in New Zealand teachers: An examination of the role of psychological capital
Abstract
Teaching is one of the most stressful occupations. This study explores how teachers’ psychological capital — a combination of hope, resilience, optimism and self-efficacy — is related to stress, wellbeing, appraisal and coping. Teachers ( n = 1502) across New Zealand and from a range of teaching levels completed surveys. Participants with more psychological capital reported less stress and more wellbeing, saw work demands more as challenges than threats, and reported using more task-focused and less emotion-focused coping strategies. Psychological capital appeared to be directly related to increased wellbeing and reduced stress. Given the importance of teacher wellbeing for the profession and for students, we need ways to build teachers’ personal resources and, importantly, to ensure that teaching environments support wellbeing.
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Years of teaching did not necessarily seem relevant to teacher well-being, as six out of 14 studies found no significant correlations.
“years of teaching did not necessarily seem relevant to TWB, as six out of 14 studies found no significant correlations”
From Teacher well-being: A systematic review of the research literature from the year 2000–2019 (2021) · cites this paper as Soykan et al., 2019
Psychological capital showed high practical significance for teacher well-being.
“psychological capital showed high practical significance for TWB (Soykan et al., 2019)”
From Teacher well-being: A systematic review of the research literature from the year 2000–2019 (2021) · cites this paper as Soykan et al., 2019
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Teacher well-being: A systematic review of the research literature from the year 2000–2019
Hascher, T., & Waber, J. (2021) · Educational Research Review · doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2021.100411 · Cited by 680 · see citing works
- Authors
- Soykan, A., Gardner, D., & Edwards, T.
- Affiliations
- Massey University (NZ)
- Albany, Auckland, New Zealand
- Corresponding author
- Gardner, Dianne
- ORCID
- Gardner, Dianne
- Venue
- Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-12
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 130-138
- ISSN
- 2055-6365 (ISSN-L)
- 2055-6373
- OpenAlex
- W2950653093
- Cited by
- 44
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 4.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- subjective well-being, teachers, psychological capital, hope, resilience, optimism, self-efficacy, occupational stress, coping strategies, task-oriented coping, emotion-focused coping
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