Teachers' professional identity and burnout among Chinese female school teachers: mediating roles of work engagement and psychological capital
Open accessAbstract
Burnout is a serious phenomenon among female kindergarten, primary, and secondary school teachers in China. Previous research has shown that professional identity negatively predicts burnout. However, little is known about the mediating mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study examined the relationship between professional identity and burnout and the mediating roles of work engagement and psychology using a sample of Chinese teachers. A total of 2220 female teachers participated (kindergarten: 16.9%; primary school: 56.7%; secondary school: 26.4%). They answered four questionnaires measuring their professional identity, work engagement, psychological capital, and burnout. PROCESS macro (SPSS 21.0) was used to conduct mediation analyses of work engagement and psychological capital in the relationship between professional identity and burnout. Working simultaneously, work engagement, and psychological capital partially mediated the aforementioned relationship, which could reduce burnout. Working sequentially completely mediated the relationship between professional identity and burnout, and hence, the latter was the lowest. Specific implications are discussed, such as the improvement of professional identity and psychological capital.
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Female primary school teachers in China frequently face compounded role demands-including domestic responsibilities, childcare, and the expectation of emotional labor with students and parents-that may generate work-family conflict and attenuate work engagement relative to their male colleagues.
“female primary school teachers in China frequently face compounded role demands—including domestic responsibilities, childcare, and the expectation of emotional labor with students and parents—that may generate work–family conflict (Sun et al., 2022; Zhong et al., 2025) and attenuate work engagement relative to their male colleagues (Sun et al., 2022)”
From Teaching beliefs and wellbeing among primary school teachers: a moderated mediation of work engagement and career adaptability (2026) · cites this paper as Sun et al., 2022
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- Authors
- Sun, C., Feng, X., Sun, B., Li, W., & Zhong, C.
- Affiliations
- Zhejiang Normal University (CN)
- Yuxiu Secondary School, Changyi 261300, China
- Corresponding author
- Sun, Binghai
- Li, Weijian
- Zhong, Chenyin
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-10-18
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 13477
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9603075
- OpenAlex
- W4306743126
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7
- FWCI
- 9.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Major Support Projects for Emerging (Interdisciplinary) Disciplines of Philosophy and Social Sciences of Zhejiang Province in China (19XXJC04ZD-2)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Stress and Burnout Research
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Professional Development and Motivation
- Keywords
- teacher burnout, professional identity, work engagement, psychological capital, women teachers, kindergarten teachers, mediation, Chinese teachers
- MeSH terms
- School Teachers, Educational Personnel, Work Engagement, Burnout, Professional, China, Female, Humans
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