how does homework cause social anxiety

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Education scholar Denise Pope has found that too much homework has negative effects on student well-being and behavioral engagement. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.

“Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .

The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students’ views on homework.

Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.

Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.

“The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students’ advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being,” Pope wrote.

Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.

Their study found that too much homework is associated with:

* Greater stress: 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.

* Reductions in health: In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.

* Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits: Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills,” according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.

A balancing act

The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.

Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as “pointless” or “mindless” in order to keep their grades up.

“This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points,” Pope said.

She said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.

“Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development,” wrote Pope.

High-performing paradox

In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. “Young people are spending more time alone,” they wrote, “which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities.”

Student perspectives

The researchers say that while their open-ended or “self-reporting” methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for “typical adolescent complaining” – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.

The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Media Contacts

Denise Pope, Stanford Graduate School of Education: (650) 725-7412, [email protected] Clifton B. Parker, Stanford News Service: (650) 725-0224, [email protected]

Homework Struggles May Not Be a Behavior Problem

Exploring some options to understand and help..

Posted August 2, 2022 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan

• Mental health challenges and neurodevelopmental differences directly affect children's ability to do homework.
• Understanding what difficulties are getting in the way—beyond the usual explanation of a behavior problem—is key.
• Sleep and mental health needs can take priority over homework completion.

Chelsea was in 10th grade the first time I told her directly to stop doing her homework and get some sleep. I had been working with her since she was in middle school, treating her anxiety disorder. She deeply feared disappointing anyone—especially her teachers—and spent hours trying to finish homework perfectly. The more tired and anxious she got, the harder it got for her to finish the assignments.

One night Chelsea called me in despair, feeling hopeless. She was exhausted and couldn’t think straight. She felt like a failure and that she was a burden to everyone because she couldn’t finish her homework.

She was shocked when I told her that my prescription for her was to go to sleep now—not to figure out how to finish her work. I told her to leave her homework incomplete and go to sleep. We briefly discussed how we would figure it out the next day, with her mom and her teachers. At that moment, it clicked for her that it was futile to keep working—because nothing was getting done.

This was an inflection point for her awareness of when she was emotionally over-cooked and when she needed to stop and take a break or get some sleep. We repeated versions of this phone call several times over the course of her high school and college years, but she got much better at being able to do this for herself most of the time.

When Mental Health Symptoms Interfere with Homework

Kids with mental health or neurodevelopmental challenges often struggle mightily with homework. Challenges can come up in every step of the homework process, including, but not limited to:

• Remembering and tracking assignments and materials
• Getting the mental energy/organization to start homework
• Filtering distractions enough to persist with assignments
• Understanding unspoken or implied parts of the homework
• Remembering to bring finished homework to class
• Being in class long enough to know the material
• Tolerating the fear of not knowing or failing
• Not giving up the assignment because of a panic attack
• Tolerating frustration—such as not understanding—without emotional dysregulation
• Being able to ask for help—from a peer or a teacher and not being afraid to reach out

This list is hardly comprehensive. ADHD , autism spectrum disorder, social anxiety , generalized anxiety, panic disorder, depression , dysregulation, and a range of other neurodevelopmental and mental health challenges cause numerous learning differences and symptoms that can specifically and frequently interfere with getting homework done.

The Usual Diagnosis for Homework Problems is "Not Trying Hard Enough"

Unfortunately, when kids frequently struggle to meet homework demands, teachers and parents typically default to one explanation of the problem: The child is making a choice not to do their homework. That is the default “diagnosis” in classrooms and living rooms. And once this framework is drawn, the student is often seen as not trying hard enough, disrespectful, manipulative, or just plain lazy.

The fundamental disconnect here is that the diagnosis of homework struggles as a behavioral choice is, in fact, only one explanation, while there are so many other diagnoses and differences that impair children's ability to consistently do their homework. If we are trying to create solutions based on only one understanding of the problem, the solutions will not work. More devastatingly, the wrong solutions can worsen the child’s mental health and their long-term engagement with school and learning.

To be clear, we aren’t talking about children who sometimes struggle with or skip homework—kids who can change and adapt their behaviors and patterns in response to the outcomes of that struggle. For this discussion, we are talking about children with mental health and/or neurodevelopmental symptoms and challenges that create chronic difficulties with meeting homework demands.

How Can You Help a Child Who Struggles with Homework?

How can you help your child who is struggling to meet homework demands because of their ADHD, depression, anxiety, OCD , school avoidance, or any other neurodevelopmental or mental health differences? Let’s break this down into two broad areas—things you can do at home, and things you can do in communication with the school.

Helping at Home

The following suggestions for managing school demands at home can feel counterintuitive to parents—because we usually focus on helping our kids to complete their tasks. But mental health needs jump the line ahead of task completion. And starting at home will be key to developing an idea of what needs to change at school.

• Set an end time in the evening after which no more homework will be attempted. Kids need time to decompress and they need sleep—and pushing homework too close to or past bedtime doesn’t serve their educational needs. Even if your child hasn’t been able to approach the homework at all, even if they have avoided and argued the whole evening, it is still important for everyone to have a predictable time to shut down the whole process.
• If there are arguments almost every night about homework, if your child isn’t starting homework or finishing it, reframe it from failure into information. It’s data to put into problem-solving. We need to consider other possible explanations besides “behavioral choice” when trying to understand the problem and create effective solutions. What problems are getting in the way of our child’s meeting homework demands that their peers are meeting most of the time?
• Try not to argue about homework. If you can check your own anxiety and frustration, it can be more productive to ally with your child and be curious with them. Kids usually can’t tell you a clear “why” but maybe they can tell you how they are feeling and what they are thinking. And if your child can’t talk about it or just keeps saying “I don't know,” try not to push. Come back another time. Rushing, forcing, yelling, and threatening will predictably not help kids do homework.

Helping at School

The second area to explore when your neurodiverse child struggles frequently with homework is building communication and connections with school and teachers. Some places to focus on include the following.

• Label your child’s diagnoses and break down specific symptoms for the teachers and school team. Nonjudgmental, but specific language is essential for teachers to understand your child’s struggles. Breaking their challenges down into the problems specific to homework can help with building solutions. As your child gets older, help them identify their difficulties and communicate them to teachers.
• Let teachers and the school team know that your child’s mental health needs—including sleep—take priority over finishing homework. If your child is always struggling to complete homework and get enough sleep, or if completing homework is leading to emotional meltdowns every night, adjusting their homework demands will be more successful than continuing to push them into sleep deprivation or meltdowns.
• Request a child study team evaluation to determine if your child qualifies for services under special education law such as an IEP, or accommodations through section 504—and be sure that homework adjustments are included in any plan. Or if such a plan is already in place, be clear that modification of homework expectations needs to be part of it.

The Long-Term Story

I still work with Chelsea and she recently mentioned how those conversations so many years ago are still part of how she approaches work tasks or other demands that are spiking her anxiety when she finds herself in a vortex of distress. She stops what she is doing and prioritizes reducing her anxiety—whether it’s a break during her day or an ending to the task for the evening. She sees that this is crucial to managing her anxiety in her life and still succeeding at what she is doing.

Task completion at all costs is not a solution for kids with emotional needs. Her story (and the story of many of my patients) make this crystal clear.

Candida Fink, M.D. , is board certified in child/adolescent and general psychiatry. She practices in New York and has co-authored two books— The Ups and Downs of Raising a Bipolar Child and Bipolar Disorder for Dummies.

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More than two hours of homework may be counterproductive, research suggests.

A Stanford education researcher found that too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.   "Our findings on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good," wrote Denise Pope , a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and a co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education .   The researchers used survey data to examine perceptions about homework, student well-being and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. Along with the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended answers to explore the students' views on homework.   Median household income exceeded $90,000 in these communities, and 93 percent of the students went on to college, either two-year or four-year.   Students in these schools average about 3.1 hours of homework each night.   "The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools sustain students' advantage in competitive climates yet hinder learning, full engagement and well-being," Pope wrote.   Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite prior research indicating that homework benefits plateau at about two hours per night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.   Their study found that too much homework is associated with:   • Greater stress : 56 percent of the students considered homework a primary source of stress, according to the survey data. Forty-three percent viewed tests as a primary stressor, while 33 percent put the pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of the students said homework was not a stressor.   • Reductions in health : In their open-ended answers, many students said their homework load led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked students whether they experienced health issues such as headaches, exhaustion, sleep deprivation, weight loss and stomach problems.   • Less time for friends, family and extracurricular pursuits : Both the survey data and student responses indicate that spending too much time on homework meant that students were "not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other critical life skills," according to the researchers. Students were more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.   A balancing act   The results offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to find balance between homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt forced or obligated to choose homework over developing other talents or skills.   Also, there was no relationship between the time spent on homework and how much the student enjoyed it. The research quoted students as saying they often do homework they see as "pointless" or "mindless" in order to keep their grades up.   "This kind of busy work, by its very nature, discourages learning and instead promotes doing homework simply to get points," said Pope, who is also a co-founder of Challenge Success , a nonprofit organization affiliated with the GSE that conducts research and works with schools and parents to improve students' educational experiences..   Pope said the research calls into question the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework should not be simply assigned as a routine practice, she said.   "Rather, any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development," wrote Pope.   High-performing paradox   In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster skills in the area of personal responsibility, the researchers concluded. "Young people are spending more time alone," they wrote, "which means less time for family and fewer opportunities to engage in their communities."   Student perspectives   The researchers say that while their open-ended or "self-reporting" methodology to gauge student concerns about homework may have limitations – some might regard it as an opportunity for "typical adolescent complaining" – it was important to learn firsthand what the students believe.   The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway from Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner from Villanova University.

Clifton B. Parker is a writer at the Stanford News Service .

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• Social anxiety disorder (social phobia)

It's normal to feel nervous in some social situations. For example, going on a date or giving a presentation may cause that feeling of butterflies in your stomach. But in social anxiety disorder, also called social phobia, everyday interactions cause significant anxiety, self-consciousness and embarrassment because you fear being scrutinized or judged negatively by others.

In social anxiety disorder, fear and anxiety lead to avoidance that can disrupt your life. Severe stress can affect your relationships, daily routines, work, school or other activities.

Social anxiety disorder can be a chronic mental health condition, but learning coping skills in psychotherapy and taking medications can help you gain confidence and improve your ability to interact with others.

Social anxiety disorder care at Mayo Clinic

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Feelings of shyness or discomfort in certain situations aren't necessarily signs of social anxiety disorder, particularly in children. Comfort levels in social situations vary, depending on personality traits and life experiences. Some people are naturally reserved and others are more outgoing.

In contrast to everyday nervousness, social anxiety disorder includes fear, anxiety and avoidance that interfere with relationships, daily routines, work, school or other activities. Social anxiety disorder typically begins in the early to mid-teens, though it can sometimes start in younger children or in adults.

Emotional and behavioral symptoms

Signs and symptoms of social anxiety disorder can include constant:

• Fear of situations in which you may be judged negatively
• Worry about embarrassing or humiliating yourself
• Intense fear of interacting or talking with strangers
• Fear that others will notice that you look anxious
• Fear of physical symptoms that may cause you embarrassment, such as blushing, sweating, trembling or having a shaky voice
• Avoidance of doing things or speaking to people out of fear of embarrassment
• Avoidance of situations where you might be the center of attention
• Anxiety in anticipation of a feared activity or event
• Intense fear or anxiety during social situations
• Analysis of your performance and identification of flaws in your interactions after a social situation
• Expectation of the worst possible consequences from a negative experience during a social situation

For children, anxiety about interacting with adults or peers may be shown by crying, having temper tantrums, clinging to parents or refusing to speak in social situations.

Performance type of social anxiety disorder is when you experience intense fear and anxiety during speaking or performing in public but not in other types of more general social situations.

Physical symptoms

Physical signs and symptoms can sometimes accompany social anxiety disorder and may include:

• Fast heartbeat
• Upset stomach or nausea
• Trouble catching your breath
• Dizziness or lightheadedness
• Feeling that your mind has gone blank
• Muscle tension

Avoiding common social situations

Common, everyday experiences may be hard to endure when you have social anxiety disorder, including:

• Interacting with unfamiliar people or strangers
• Attending parties or social gatherings
• Going to work or school
• Starting conversations
• Making eye contact
• Entering a room in which people are already seated
• Returning items to a store
• Eating in front of others
• Using a public restroom

Social anxiety disorder symptoms can change over time. They may flare up if you're facing a lot of changes, stress or demands in your life. Although avoiding situations that produce anxiety may make you feel better in the short term, your anxiety is likely to continue over the long term if you don't get treatment.

When to see a doctor

See your doctor or a mental health professional if you fear and avoid normal social situations because they cause embarrassment, worry or panic.

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Like many other mental health conditions, social anxiety disorder likely arises from a complex interaction of biological and environmental factors. Possible causes include:

• Inherited traits. Anxiety disorders tend to run in families. However, it isn't entirely clear how much of this may be due to genetics and how much is due to learned behavior.
• Brain structure. A structure in the brain called the amygdala (uh-MIG-duh-luh) may play a role in controlling the fear response. People who have an overactive amygdala may have a heightened fear response, causing increased anxiety in social situations.
• Environment. Social anxiety disorder may be a learned behavior — some people may develop significant anxiety after an unpleasant or embarrassing social situation. Also, there may be an association between social anxiety disorder and parents who either model anxious behavior in social situations or are more controlling or overprotective of their children.

Risk factors

Several factors can increase the risk of developing social anxiety disorder, including:

• Family history. You're more likely to develop social anxiety disorder if your biological parents or siblings have the condition.
• Negative experiences. Children who experience teasing, bullying, rejection, ridicule or humiliation may be more prone to social anxiety disorder. In addition, other negative events in life, such as family conflict, trauma or abuse, may be associated with this disorder.
• Temperament. Children who are shy, timid, withdrawn or restrained when facing new situations or people may be at greater risk.
• New social or work demands. Social anxiety disorder symptoms typically start in the teenage years, but meeting new people, giving a speech in public or making an important work presentation may trigger symptoms for the first time.
• Having an appearance or condition that draws attention. For example, facial disfigurement, stuttering or tremors due to Parkinson's disease can increase feelings of self-consciousness and may trigger social anxiety disorder in some people.

Complications

Left untreated, social anxiety disorder can control your life. Anxieties can interfere with work, school, relationships or enjoyment of life. This disorder can cause:

• Low self-esteem
• Trouble being assertive
• Negative self-talk
• Hypersensitivity to criticism
• Poor social skills
• Isolation and difficult social relationships
• Low academic and employment achievement
• Substance abuse, such as drinking too much alcohol
• Suicide or suicide attempts

Other anxiety disorders and certain other mental health disorders, particularly major depressive disorder and substance abuse problems, often occur with social anxiety disorder.

There's no way to predict what will cause someone to develop an anxiety disorder, but you can take steps to reduce the impact of symptoms if you're anxious:

• Get help early. Anxiety, like many other mental health conditions, can be harder to treat if you wait.
• Keep a journal. Keeping track of your personal life can help you and your mental health professional identify what's causing you stress and what seems to help you feel better.
• Set priorities in your life. You can reduce anxiety by carefully managing your time and energy. Make sure that you spend time doing things you enjoy.
• Avoid unhealthy substance use. Alcohol and drug use and even caffeine or nicotine use can cause or worsen anxiety. If you're addicted to any of these substances, quitting can make you anxious. If you can't quit on your own, see your health care provider or find a treatment program or support group to help you.

Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) care at Mayo Clinic

• Social anxiety disorder (social phobia). In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association; 2013. http://dsm.psychiatryonline.org. Accessed May 21, 2021.
• Gabbard GO, ed. Social anxiety disorder (social phobia). In: Gabbard's Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders. 5th ed. American Psychiatric Association; 2014. http://psychiatryonline.org/doi/book/10.1176/appi.books.9781585625048. Accessed May 21, 2021.
• Schneier FR. Social anxiety disorder in adults: Epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnosis. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Stein MB, et al. Approach to treating social anxiety disorder in adults. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Hofmann SG. Psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder in adults. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Stein MB. Pharmacotherapy for social anxiety disorder in adults. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Bystritsky A. Complementary and alternative treatments for anxiety symptoms and disorders: Herbs and medications. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Bystritsky A. Complementary and alternative treatments for anxiety symptoms and disorders: Physical, cognitive, and spiritual interventions. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Social anxiety disorder: More than just shyness. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/social-anxiety-disorder-more-than-just-shyness/index.shtml. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Natural medicines in the clinical management of anxiety. Natural Medicines. https://naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Sawchuk CN (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic. April 29, 2021.
• AskMayoExpert. Anxiety disorders. Mayo Clinic; 2020. Accessed April 8, 2021.
• Brown A. Allscripts EPSi. Mayo Clinic. Sept. 11, 2020.
• Valerian. Natural Medicines. https://naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com. Accessed April 12, 2021.
• Sarris J, et al., eds. Anxiety. In: Clinical Naturopathy. 3rd ed. Elsevier; 2019. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed April 12, 2021.

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How I Manage My Social Anxiety at Work

• Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar

Don’t wait to feel confident to start making changes.

Do you feel like you’re constantly being observed and judged in social situations? This debilitating feeling is called social anxiety and one in 14 people in the world deal with it. In this personal essay, Ascend editor Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar speaks with psychologist Ellen Hendriksen to understand what social anxiety is and how to cope with it.

• Social anxiety is a mental health condition that’s driven by fear — and largely learned. It’s maintained through behaviors that mimic hiding such as walking around your entire office building to avoid others on your way in or not raising your hand during class even when your grade depends on it.
• Managing social anxiety starts by taking a behavior-first approach to experiment with new ways of learning to be comfortable in social situations. To start, focus on listening to others without trying to respond to them. This will help you shift your attention outwards instead of looking inwards.
• In uncertain situations like office parties, create your own structure to give yourself a sense of control. For instance, pick three to four people that you’d like to talk to and see how you feel about it during the party.
• Finally, be kind to yourself. When you feel embarrassed or anxious, imagine how you would treat someone in a similar situation. Try and stay reasonable and grounded while giving yourself some grace.

Where your work meets your life. See more from Ascend here .

The first time I stepped onto a stage, I was eight years old. It was an elocution competition. I was supposed to talk about conserving energy, something I had learned in science class. As I climbed the stairs leading up to the platform, the space around me felt infinite yet constricted. The microphone, once in my hands, weighed a hundred pounds.

• RR Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar is an associate editor at Ascend.

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School Stress Takes A Toll On Health, Teens And Parents Say

Patti Neighmond

Colleen Frainey, 16, of Tualatin, Ore., cut back on advanced placement classes in her junior year because the stress was making her physically ill. Toni Greaves for NPR hide caption

Colleen Frainey, 16, of Tualatin, Ore., cut back on advanced placement classes in her junior year because the stress was making her physically ill.

When high school junior Nora Huynh got her report card, she was devastated to see that she didn't get a perfect 4.0.

Nora "had a total meltdown, cried for hours," her mother, Jennie Huynh of Alameda, Calif., says. "I couldn't believe her reaction."

Nora is doing college-level work, her mother says, but many of her friends are taking enough advanced classes to boost their grade-point averages above 4.0. "It breaks my heart to see her upset when she's doing so awesome and going above and beyond."

And the pressure is taking a physical toll, too. At age 16, Nora is tired, is increasingly irritated with her siblings and often suffers headaches, her mother says.

Teens Talk Stress

When NPR asked on Facebook if stress is an issue for teenagers, they spoke loud and clear:

• "Academic stress has been a part of my life ever since I can remember," wrote Bretta McCall, 16, of Seattle. "This year I spend about 12 hours a day on schoolwork. I'm home right now because I was feeling so sick from stress I couldn't be at school. So as you can tell, it's a big part of my life!"
• "At the time of writing this, my weekend assignments include two papers, a PowerPoint to go with a 10-minute presentation, studying for a test and two quizzes, and an entire chapter (approximately 40 pages) of notes in a college textbook," wrote Connor West of New Jersey.
• "It's a problem that's basically brushed off by most people," wrote Kelly Farrell in Delaware. "There's this mentality of, 'You're doing well, so why are you complaining?' " She says she started experiencing symptoms of stress in middle school, and was diagnosed with panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder in high school.
• "Parents are the worst about all of this," writes Colin Hughes of Illinois. "All I hear is, 'Work harder, you're a smart kid, I know you have it in you, and if you want to go to college you need to work harder.' It's a pain."

Parents are right to be worried about stress and their children's health, says Mary Alvord , a clinical psychologist in Maryland and public education coordinator for the American Psychological Association.

"A little stress is a good thing," Alvord says. "It can motivate students to be organized. But too much stress can backfire."

Almost 40 percent of parents say their high-schooler is experiencing a lot of stress from school, according to a new NPR poll conducted with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. In most cases, that stress is from academics, not social issues or bullying, the poll found. (See the full results here .)

Homework was a leading cause of stress, with 24 percent of parents saying it's an issue.

Teenagers say they're suffering, too. A survey by the American Psychological Association found that nearly half of all teens — 45 percent — said they were stressed by school pressures.

Chronic stress can cause a sense of panic and paralysis, Alvord says. The child feels stuck, which only adds to the feeling of stress.

Parents can help put the child's distress in perspective, particularly when they get into what Alvord calls catastrophic "what if" thinking: "What if I get a bad grade, then what if that means I fail the course, then I'll never get into college."

Then move beyond talking and do something about it.

Colleen pets her horse, Bishop. They had been missing out on rides together because of homework. Toni Greaves for NPR hide caption

Colleen pets her horse, Bishop. They had been missing out on rides together because of homework.

That's what 16-year-old Colleen Frainey of Tualatin, Ore., did. As a sophomore last year, she was taking all advanced courses. The pressure was making her sick. "I didn't feel good, and when I didn't feel good I felt like I couldn't do my work, which would stress me out more," she says.

Mom Abigail Frainey says, "It was more than we could handle as a family."

With encouragement from her parents, Colleen dropped one of her advanced courses. The family's decision generated disbelief from other parents. "Why would I let her take the easy way out?" Abigail Frainey heard.

But she says dialing down on academics was absolutely the right decision for her child. Colleen no longer suffers headaches or stomachaches. She's still in honors courses, but the workload this year is manageable.

Even better, Colleen now has time to do things she never would have considered last year, like going out to dinner with the family on a weeknight, or going to the barn to ride her horse, Bishop.

Psychologist Alvord says a balanced life should be the goal for all families. If a child is having trouble getting things done, parents can help plan the week, deciding what's important and what's optional. "Just basic time management — that will help reduce the stress."

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Does Homework Cause Stress? Exploring the Impact on Students’ Mental Health

How much homework is too much?

Jump to: The Link Between Homework and Stress | Homework’s Impact on Mental Health | Benefits of Homework | How Much Homework Should Teacher’s Assign? | Advice for Students | How Healium Helps

Homework has become a matter of concern for educators, parents, and researchers due to its potential effects on students’ stress levels. It’s no secret students often find themselves grappling with high levels of stress and anxiety throughout their academic careers, so understanding the extent to which homework affects those stress levels is important. 

By delving into the latest research and understanding the underlying factors at play, we hope to curate insights for educators, parents, and students who are wondering  is homework causing stress in their lives?

The Link Between Homework and Stress: What the Research Says

Over the years, numerous studies investigated the relationship between homework and stress levels in students. 

One study published in the Journal of Experimental Education found that students who reported spending more than two hours per night on homework experienced higher stress levels and physical health issues . Those same students reported over three hours of homework a night on average.

This study, conducted by Stanford lecturer Denise Pope, has been heavily cited throughout the years, with WebMD eproducing the below video on the topic– part of their special report series on teens and stress : 

Additional studies published by Sleep Health Journal found that long hours on homework on may be a risk factor for depression while also suggesting that reducing workload outside of class may benefit sleep and mental fitness .

Lastly, a study presented by Frontiers in Psychology highlighted significant health implications for high school students facing chronic stress, including emotional exhaustion and alcohol and drug use.

Homework’s Potential Impact on Mental Health and Well-being

Homework-induced stress on students can involve both psychological and physiological side effects. 

1. Potential Psychological Effects of Homework-Induced Stress:

• Anxiety: The pressure to perform academically and meet homework expectations can lead to heightened levels of anxiety in students. Constant worry about completing assignments on time and achieving high grades can be overwhelming.

• Sleep Disturbances : Homework-related stress can disrupt students’ sleep patterns, leading to sleep anxiety or sleep deprivation, both of which can negatively impact cognitive function and emotional regulation.

• Reduced Motivation: Excessive homework demands could drain students’ motivation, causing them to feel fatigued and disengaged from their studies. Reduced motivation may lead to a lack of interest in learning, hindering overall academic performance.

2. Potential Physical Effects of Homework-Induced Stress:

• Impaired Immune Function: Prolonged stress could weaken the immune system, making students more susceptible to illnesses and infections.

• Disrupted Hormonal Balance : The body’s stress response triggers the release of hormones like cortisol, which, when chronically elevated due to stress, can disrupt the delicate hormonal balance and lead to various health issues.

• Gastrointestinal Disturbances: Stress has been known to affect the gastrointestinal system, leading to symptoms such as stomachaches, nausea, and other digestive problems.

• Cardiovascular Impact: The increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure associated with stress can strain the cardiovascular system, potentially increasing the risk of heart-related issues in the long run.

• Brain impact: Prolonged exposure to stress hormones may impact the brain’s functioning , affecting memory, concentration, and cognitive abilities.

The Benefits of Homework

It’s important to note that homework also offers many benefits that contribute to students’ academic growth and development, such as: 

• Development of Time Management Skills: Completing homework within specified deadlines encourages students to manage their time efficiently. This valuable skill extends beyond academics and becomes essential in various aspects of life.

• Preparation for Future Challenges : Homework helps prepare students for future academic challenges and responsibilities. It fosters a sense of discipline and responsibility, qualities that are crucial for success in higher education and professional life.

• Enhanced Problem-Solving Abilities: Homework often presents students with challenging problems to solve. Tackling these problems independently nurtures critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

While homework can foster discipline, time management, and self-directed learning, the middle ground may be to  strike a balance that promotes both academic growth and mental well-being .

How Much Homework Should Teachers Assign?

As a general guideline, educators suggest assigning a workload that allows students to grasp concepts effectively without overwhelming them . Quality over quantity is key, ensuring that homework assignments are purposeful, relevant, and targeted towards specific objectives. 

Advice for Students: How to balance Homework and Well-being

Finding a balance between academic responsibilities and well-being is crucial for students. Here are some practical tips and techniques to help manage homework-related stress and foster a healthier approach to learning:

• Effective Time Management : Encourage students to create a structured study schedule that allocates sufficient time for homework, breaks, and other activities. Prioritizing tasks and setting realistic goals can prevent last-minute rushes and reduce the feeling of being overwhelmed.

• Break Tasks into Smaller Chunks : Large assignments can be daunting and may contribute to stress. Students should break such tasks into smaller, manageable parts. This approach not only makes the workload seem less intimidating but also provides a sense of accomplishment as each section is completed.

• Find a Distraction-Free Zone : Establish a designated study area that is free from distractions like smartphones, television, or social media. This setting will improve focus and productivity, reducing time needed to complete homework.

• Be Active : Regular exercise is known to reduce stress and enhance mood. Encourage students to incorporate physical activity into their daily routine, whether it’s going for a walk, playing a sport, or doing yoga.

• Practice Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques : Encourage students to engage in mindfulness practices, such as deep breathing exercises or meditation, to alleviate stress and improve concentration. Taking short breaks to relax and clear the mind can enhance overall well-being and cognitive performance.

• Seek Support : Teachers, parents, and school counselors play an essential role in supporting students. Create an open and supportive environment where students feel comfortable expressing their concerns and seeking help when needed.

How Healium is Helping in Schools

Stress is caused by so many factors and not just the amount of work students are taking home.  Our company created a virtual reality stress management solution… a mental fitness tool called “Healium” that’s teaching students how to learn to self-regulate their stress and downshift in a drugless way. Schools implementing Healium have seen improvements from supporting dysregulated students and ADHD challenges to empowering students with body awareness and learning to self-regulate stress . Here’s one of their stories. 

By providing students with the tools they need to self-manage stress and anxiety, we represent a forward-looking approach to education that prioritizes the holistic development of every student. 

To learn more about how Healium works, watch the video below.

About the Author

Sarah Hill , a former interactive TV news journalist at NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates in Missouri, gained recognition for pioneering interactive news broadcasting using Google Hangouts. She is now the CEO of Healium, the world’s first biometrically powered immersive media channel, helping those with stress, anxiety, insomnia, and other struggles through biofeedback storytelling. With patents, clinical validation, and over seven million views, she has reshaped the landscape of immersive media.

What’s the difference between shyness and social anxiety?

Postdoctoral research fellow and clinical psychologist, UNSW Sydney

Professor, NHMRC Emerging Leader & Clinical Psychologist, UNSW Sydney

Disclosure statement

Jill Newby receives funding from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), the HCF Research Foundation, and Perpetual Foundation.

Kayla Steele does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

UNSW Sydney provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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What’s the difference? is a new editorial product that explains the similarities and differences between commonly confused health and medical terms, and why they matter.

The terms “shyness” and “social anxiety” are often used interchangeably because they both involve feeling uncomfortable in social situations.

However, feeling shy , or having a shy personality, is not the same as experiencing social anxiety (short for “social anxiety disorder”).

Here are some of the similarities and differences, and what the distinction means.

How are they similar?

It can be normal to feel nervous or even stressed in new social situations or when interacting with new people. And everyone differs in how comfortable they feel when interacting with others.

For people who are shy or socially anxious, social situations can be very uncomfortable, stressful or even threatening. There can be a strong desire to avoid these situations.

People who are shy or socially anxious may respond with “flight” (by withdrawing from the situation or avoiding it entirely), “freeze” (by detaching themselves or feeling disconnected from their body), or “ fawn ” (by trying to appease or placate others).

A complex interaction of biological and environmental factors is also thought to influence the development of shyness and social anxiety.

For example, both shy children and adults with social anxiety have neural circuits that respond strongly to stressful social situations, such as being excluded or left out.

People who are shy or socially anxious commonly report physical symptoms of stress in certain situations, or even when anticipating them. These include sweating, blushing, trembling, an increased heart rate or hyperventilation.

How are they different?

Social anxiety is a diagnosable mental health condition and is an example of an anxiety disorder.

For people who struggle with social anxiety, social situations – including social interactions, being observed and performing in front of others – trigger intense fear or anxiety about being judged, criticised or rejected.

To be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, social anxiety needs to be persistent (lasting more than six months) and have a significant negative impact on important areas of life such as work, school, relationships, and identity or sense of self.

Many adults with social anxiety report feeling shy, timid and lacking in confidence when they were a child. However, not all shy children go on to develop social anxiety. Also, feeling shy does not necessarily mean a person meets the criteria for social anxiety disorder.

People vary in how shy or outgoing they are, depending on where they are, who they are with and how comfortable they feel in the situation. This is particularly true for children, who sometimes appear reserved and shy with strangers and peers, and outgoing with known and trusted adults.

Individual differences in temperament, personality traits, early childhood experiences, family upbringing and environment, and parenting style, can also influence the extent to which people feel shy across social situations.

However, people with social anxiety have overwhelming fears about embarrassing themselves or being negatively judged by others; they experience these fears consistently and across multiple social situations.

The intensity of this fear or anxiety often leads people to avoid situations. If avoiding a situation is not possible, they may engage in safety behaviours, such as looking at their phone, wearing sunglasses or rehearsing conversation topics.

The effect social anxiety can have on a person’s life can be far-reaching. It may include low self-esteem, breakdown of friendships or romantic relationships, difficulties pursuing and progressing in a career, and dropping out of study.

The impact this has on a person’s ability to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life, and the distress this causes, differentiates social anxiety from shyness.

Children can show similar signs or symptoms of social anxiety to adults. But they may also feel upset and teary, irritable, have temper tantrums, cling to their parents, or refuse to speak in certain situations.

If left untreated, social anxiety can set children and young people up for a future of missed opportunities, so early intervention is key. With professional and parental support , patience and guidance, children can be taught strategies to overcome social anxiety.

Why does the distinction matter?

Social anxiety disorder is a mental health condition that persists for people who do not receive adequate support or treatment.

Without treatment, it can lead to difficulties in education and at work, and in developing meaningful relationships.

Receiving a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder can be validating for some people as it recognises the level of distress and that its impact is more intense than shyness.

A diagnosis can also be an important first step in accessing appropriate, evidence-based treatment.

Different people have different support needs. However, clinical practice guidelines recommend cognitive-behavioural therapy (a kind of psychological therapy that teaches people practical coping skills). This is often used with exposure therapy (a kind of psychological therapy that helps people face their fears by breaking them down into a series of step-by-step activities). This combination is effective in-person , online and in brief treatments .

For more support or further reading

Online resources about social anxiety include:

This Way Up’s online program for managing excessive shyness and fear of social situations

Beyond Blue’s resources on social anxiety

a guide to looking after yourself if you have social anxiety, from the Western Australian health department

social anxiety online program for children and teens from the University of Queensland

inroads, a self-guided online program for young adults who drink alcohol to manage their anxiety.

We thank the Black Dog Institute Lived Experience Advisory Network members for providing feedback and input for this article and our research.

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Is Homework Necessary? Education Inequity and Its Impact on Students

The Problem with Homework: It Highlights Inequalities

How much homework is too much homework, when does homework actually help, negative effects of homework for students, how teachers can help.

Schools are getting rid of homework from Essex, Mass., to Los Angeles, Calif. Although the no-homework trend may sound alarming, especially to parents dreaming of their child’s acceptance to Harvard, Stanford or Yale, there is mounting evidence that eliminating homework in grade school may actually have great benefits , especially with regard to educational equity.

In fact, while the push to eliminate homework may come as a surprise to many adults, the debate is not new . Parents and educators have been talking about this subject for the last century, so that the educational pendulum continues to swing back and forth between the need for homework and the need to eliminate homework.

One of the most pressing talking points around homework is how it disproportionately affects students from less affluent families. The American Psychological Association (APA) explained:

“Kids from wealthier homes are more likely to have resources such as computers, internet connections, dedicated areas to do schoolwork and parents who tend to be more educated and more available to help them with tricky assignments. Kids from disadvantaged homes are more likely to work at afterschool jobs, or to be home without supervision in the evenings while their parents work multiple jobs.”

[RELATED] How to Advance Your Career: A Guide for Educators >> 

While students growing up in more affluent areas are likely playing sports, participating in other recreational activities after school, or receiving additional tutoring, children in disadvantaged areas are more likely headed to work after school, taking care of siblings while their parents work or dealing with an unstable home life. Adding homework into the mix is one more thing to deal with — and if the student is struggling, the task of completing homework can be too much to consider at the end of an already long school day.

While all students may groan at the mention of homework, it may be more than just a nuisance for poor and disadvantaged children, instead becoming another burden to carry and contend with.

Beyond the logistical issues, homework can negatively impact physical health and stress — and once again this may be a more significant problem among economically disadvantaged youth who typically already have a higher stress level than peers from more financially stable families .

Yet, today, it is not just the disadvantaged who suffer from the stressors that homework inflicts. A 2014 CNN article, “Is Homework Making Your Child Sick?” , covered the issue of extreme pressure placed on children of the affluent. The article looked at the results of a study surveying more than 4,300 students from 10 high-performing public and private high schools in upper-middle-class California communities.

“Their findings were troubling: Research showed that excessive homework is associated with high stress levels, physical health problems and lack of balance in children’s lives; 56% of the students in the study cited homework as a primary stressor in their lives,” according to the CNN story. “That children growing up in poverty are at-risk for a number of ailments is both intuitive and well-supported by research. More difficult to believe is the growing consensus that children on the other end of the spectrum, children raised in affluence, may also be at risk.”

When it comes to health and stress it is clear that excessive homework, for children at both ends of the spectrum, can be damaging. Which begs the question, how much homework is too much?

The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association recommend that students spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework . That means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes and so on. But a study published by The American Journal of Family Therapy found that students are getting much more than that.

While 10 minutes per day doesn’t sound like much, that quickly adds up to an hour per night by sixth grade. The National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students get an average of 6.8 hours of homework per week, a figure that is much too high according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It is also to be noted that this figure does not take into consideration the needs of underprivileged student populations.

In a study conducted by the OECD it was found that “after around four hours of homework per week, the additional time invested in homework has a negligible impact on performance .” That means that by asking our children to put in an hour or more per day of dedicated homework time, we are not only not helping them, but — according to the aforementioned studies — we are hurting them, both physically and emotionally.

What’s more is that homework is, as the name implies, to be completed at home, after a full day of learning that is typically six to seven hours long with breaks and lunch included. However, a study by the APA on how people develop expertise found that elite musicians, scientists and athletes do their most productive work for about only four hours per day. Similarly, companies like Tower Paddle Boards are experimenting with a five-hour workday, under the assumption that people are not able to be truly productive for much longer than that. CEO Stephan Aarstol told CNBC that he believes most Americans only get about two to three hours of work done in an eight-hour day.

In the scope of world history, homework is a fairly new construct in the U.S. Students of all ages have been receiving work to complete at home for centuries, but it was educational reformer Horace Mann who first brought the concept to America from Prussia. 

Since then, homework’s popularity has ebbed and flowed in the court of public opinion. In the 1930s, it was considered child labor (as, ironically, it compromised children’s ability to do chores at home). Then, in the 1950s, implementing mandatory homework was hailed as a way to ensure America’s youth were always one step ahead of Soviet children during the Cold War. Homework was formally mandated as a tool for boosting educational quality in 1986 by the U.S. Department of Education, and has remained in common practice ever since.  

School work assigned and completed outside of school hours is not without its benefits. Numerous studies have shown that regular homework has a hand in improving student performance and connecting students to their learning. When reviewing these studies, take them with a grain of salt; there are strong arguments for both sides, and only you will know which solution is best for your students or school. 

Homework improves student achievement.

• Source: The High School Journal, “ When is Homework Worth the Time?: Evaluating the Association between Homework and Achievement in High School Science and Math ,” 2012. 
• Source: IZA.org, “ Does High School Homework Increase Academic Achievement? ,” 2014. **Note: Study sample comprised only high school boys. 

Homework helps reinforce classroom learning.

• Source: “ Debunk This: People Remember 10 Percent of What They Read ,” 2015.

Homework helps students develop good study habits and life skills.

• Sources: The Repository @ St. Cloud State, “ Types of Homework and Their Effect on Student Achievement ,” 2017; Journal of Advanced Academics, “ Developing Self-Regulation Skills: The Important Role of Homework ,” 2011.
• Source: Journal of Advanced Academics, “ Developing Self-Regulation Skills: The Important Role of Homework ,” 2011.

Homework allows parents to be involved with their children’s learning.

• Parents can see what their children are learning and working on in school every day. 
• Parents can participate in their children’s learning by guiding them through homework assignments and reinforcing positive study and research habits.
• Homework observation and participation can help parents understand their children’s academic strengths and weaknesses, and even identify possible learning difficulties.
• Source: Phys.org, “ Sociologist Upends Notions about Parental Help with Homework ,” 2018.

While some amount of homework may help students connect to their learning and enhance their in-class performance, too much homework can have damaging effects. 

Students with too much homework have elevated stress levels. 

• Source: USA Today, “ Is It Time to Get Rid of Homework? Mental Health Experts Weigh In ,” 2021.
• Source: Stanford University, “ Stanford Research Shows Pitfalls of Homework ,” 2014.

Students with too much homework may be tempted to cheat. 

• Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education, “ High-Tech Cheating Abounds, and Professors Bear Some Blame ,” 2010.
• Source: The American Journal of Family Therapy, “ Homework and Family Stress: With Consideration of Parents’ Self Confidence, Educational Level, and Cultural Background ,” 2015.

Homework highlights digital inequity. 

• Sources: NEAToday.org, “ The Homework Gap: The ‘Cruelest Part of the Digital Divide’ ,” 2016; CNET.com, “ The Digital Divide Has Left Millions of School Kids Behind ,” 2021.
• Source: Investopedia, “ Digital Divide ,” 2022; International Journal of Education and Social Science, “ Getting the Homework Done: Social Class and Parents’ Relationship to Homework ,” 2015.
• Source: World Economic Forum, “ COVID-19 exposed the digital divide. Here’s how we can close it ,” 2021.

Homework does not help younger students.

• Source: Review of Educational Research, “ Does Homework Improve Academic Achievement? A Synthesis of Researcher, 1987-2003 ,” 2006.

To help students find the right balance and succeed, teachers and educators must start the homework conversation, both internally at their school and with parents. But in order to successfully advocate on behalf of students, teachers must be well educated on the subject, fully understanding the research and the outcomes that can be achieved by eliminating or reducing the homework burden. There is a plethora of research and writing on the subject for those interested in self-study.

For teachers looking for a more in-depth approach or for educators with a keen interest in educational equity, formal education may be the best route. If this latter option sounds appealing, there are now many reputable schools offering online master of education degree programs to help educators balance the demands of work and family life while furthering their education in the quest to help others.

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Homeworking: isolation, anxiety and burnout

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The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a mass retreat of white-collar workers from the office to home amid economic turmoil. While some have found it a relief to give up the daily commute and work at their own pace, others find it stressful, feeling remote from the office at a time when companies are making cuts and furloughing workers.

Disrupted sleep, difficulty controlling moods, and dysphoria [a generalised unease] are common problems, says Richard Chaifetz, chief executive of Chicago-based ComPsych, which provides employee assistance programmes to companies around the world. “Even someone who is relatively healthy mental health wise is going to feel the effects of an abrupt change of their lifestyle: not being able to go out [and the fear of] the unknown, fear of losing their job or having lost their job.”

Nick Bloom, a senior fellow at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, who has researched the impact of homeworking on productivity, says “forcing everybody home, often around kids, in shared rooms or bedrooms and no escape socially in non-work time will be generating major mental stress”. “This typically leads to loneliness and depression,” he adds, “which is mentally costly and often leads to physical health declines too.”

In the UK, Bupa, the private healthcare provider, reports that workplace psychologists are fully booked for virtual consultations and its health and wellbeing advice line has received 300 per cent more calls since the coronavirus crisis unfolded. In response, they are hiring more professionals trained in mental health. ComPsych says calls sharply rose in Asia when the pandemic took hold, while in the US there was a 20 per cent increase in requests to discuss mental health issues. “Obviously people are feeling the effects economically, people are losing their jobs, spouses are losing their jobs and [they are] concerned about the future,” Mr Chaifetz says.

More drinking, more anxiety

A snap survey of 500 home workers by the Institute for Employment Studies found that 20 per cent of respondents admit to increased alcohol consumption, a third say they are eating less healthily, 60 per cent are doing less exercise. While 64 per cent report problems sleeping due to anxiety and 48 per cent are working irregular work patterns and long days. A third feel lonely.

To combat isolation, employers have instigated virtual meetups, such as online happy hours, talent competitions and quizzes. Goldman Sachs offers cooking classes via Zoom, virtual prayer sessions and virtual story time for children. Linklaters, the law firm, launched virtual choir workshops.

This is a “culture shift”, says Kate Dodd, an employment lawyer who advises law firm Pinsent Masons on diversity and inclusion. “Who’d have thought a law firm would be having guided meditation sessions [to help] people to distinguish work from home. We’re learning as we go on. In week one, we were advising that people turn on their cameras in meetings and then realised some people find it quite overwhelming [and] were struggling with this.”

Lloyds Banking Group offers access to its Your Resilience tool. More than 8,000 colleagues have registered and can access new Covid-19 related content in the form of articles, animations, podcasts and webinars. Linklaters has virtualised some of its existing mental health resources such as on-site psychologists in Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK. Other online resources include webinars on the psychological impact of working in isolation. Some departments have set up a weekly working parents call to share ideas on working patterns, home schooling, occupying younger children, challenges for carers, and keeping in good mental and physical health.

A survey by Mercer found that 43 per cent of workers thought their company had addressed the issue of psychological stress at this time. But only 15 per cent of employers had surveyed staff to understand their needs. As Trent Henry, EY’s global vice-chair for talent, puts it: “You don’t change culture overnight.”

Mental health on everyone’s agenda

Jonathan Moult, a lawyer turned counselling psychologist whose private practice clients are predominantly City workers, says that for many employers the “inescapable reality [is] that sometimes the demands of jobs are so considerable that they don’t match wellbeing” goals. “Prior to coronavirus, mental health was seen as someone else’s responsibility, part of diversity and inclusion. but now it applies across the board. Maybe [a small percentage of us] will get coronavirus but 100 per cent of us are psychologically affected by it.”

Dealing with remote workers’ concerns is hard. Line managers are having to adapt at speed, says Poppy Jaman, chief executive of City Mental Health Alliance. They are struggling “to recognise stress when not seeing people face to face”. Key, she says, is being attuned to behaviour changing and asking people how they are repeatedly, including through one-to-one chats.

Rachel Suff, public policy adviser at the CIPD, the body for HR professionals, says “anxiety can be quite complex and nuanced.” With so much economic uncertainty, the fear of losing their job, says Ms Suff, can “alter people’s behaviour”. Moreover, if they feel their job might be cut or pay reduced they will feel unable “to raise their hand and admit to struggling”. In response, some companies have introduced a buddying system whereby employees are paired with someone outside their department to check on their mental welfare.

Long term impacts

The mental health fallout of coronavirus will be uneven among workers. The Lancet review of the psychological impact of quarantine through studying past epidemics including Sars and Ebola, found that those on low incomes showed “significantly higher amounts of post-traumatic stress and depressive symptoms” because a temporary loss of income had a greater impact than on wealthier peers. Overall, it noted that “separation from loved ones, the loss of freedom, uncertainty over disease status, and boredom can, on occasion, create dramatic effects”.

Those with pre-existing poor mental health would be particularly vulnerable. Frontline workers, such as health professionals, risking infection and looking after vulnerable patients and their distressed relatives, are particularly susceptible to burnout and anxiety.

Employees’ home lives vary considerably. “The issues differ significantly,” says EY’s Mr Henry . Even if employees are able to work safely from home, their spouse might be facing unemployment or be a key worker; they might have to care for vulnerable relatives. “The mental health challenge is very hard,” says Mr Henry. “Some of our employees live by themselves. That is different to someone with three generations under the same roof. Some people are putting in too many hours and over the long-term that’s not sustainable.” Others are “not feeling busy enough” and are worried about the future of their job.

As the social isolation extends, he says, they have observed workers finding it “gets tougher and tougher”, especially for those cooped up in small flats. Mr Chaifetz of ComPsych says that relaxing lockdown rules and then reimposing them may have a “deleterious effect”. It is, he says, like an organisation laying people off. “We always say that you should do it quickly, the drip drip effect is probably worse.”

The challenges of lockdown

Isolation has prompted a rise in domestic violence cases. Refuge, a UK charity helping those affected, has reported a 700 per cent rise in calls to its helpline in one day. Anna Purchas, head of people at KPMG UK, has distributed guidance on domestic abuse to managers. “The main advice is to ask open questions. Open the conversation and signpost help.”

Angela Ogilvie, global human resources director at Linklaters says junior members are typically in smaller flats, have lots of housemates and struggle with finding work space. “It’s trying to make sure that junior staff are adding value and that they have discrete work that they can deliver on so they don’t feel adrift. There are different challenges for the younger workforce.”

Lucy Doubleday, managing partner of Wearesocial, a social media creative agency, says that many of the company’s young workforce are living in flatshares with friends that “have been laid off, [some] done in really horrible ways . . . and that affects them”. The company’s shadow board, a group chosen by staff, is a useful sounding board on the workforce’s mood. “We get feedback from them on how some of the communications have been interpreted.”

Furloughed staff and anxiety

For furloughed staff, there is a huge amount of uncertainty. “It’s creating a lot of anxiety,” Mr Chaifetz says. “They don’t know what they’re coming back to — there’s a lot of ‘what-ifs’ [with regard to] the status of the business. It’s hard to be definitive if you are experiencing financial crush as a CEO.”

Even those on paid leave, Ms Suff says, it is no holiday. “[They’re] in limbo which can breed a lot of anxiety. If you’re working, you’ve got a purpose. You still have a duty of care to them, they still need to feel valued.”

Research found that working just eight hours a week can preserve people’s mental health. “There’s a massive difference in terms of mental health between not working and working,” says Brendan Burchell, reader at the department of sociology, University of Cambridge and one of the authors of the report. He proposes that government furlough schemes could allow people to do some work, perhaps for the public sector — or redistributed tasks within companies.

“Work imposes a structure to people’s life, so you have something to do, so [you are] not ruminating all the time. Maintaining contact with people outside the house,” he says. “The most important factor is having meaningful goals. It can be altruistic, [such as] helping nurses, or [it] can be goals like selling. It just has to be important to you and that’s what keeps you going.”

Anthony Wheeler, professor of management at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, says that “typically, with a furlough, employees will experience morale problems that will fuse with stress and burnout”. It can also be divisive. “If some employees are called to work while others get furloughed, companies should have articulated policies around why they make the decisions they make relative to who works and who does not,” he says.

Generally, if people believe that the processes are applied fairly, they might not like the outcome but will feel that the outcome was justified, Prof Wheeler adds. “People can handle that. What they can’t handle is when the processes lack fairness and transparency. In those circumstances, companies will experience a host of negative outcomes related to its employees — poor performance, more turnover, counterproductive work behaviours.”

Get comfortable with discomfort

Cate Murden, founder of Push, which provides coaching and counselling to companies, says that many employees are finding it hard to cope with uncertainty. “When this first started we continued to go at 100mph to make ourselves feel safer. We’re not very good at sitting in discomfort. The solution is to get more comfortable with dealing with uncertainty. People are desperately trying to plan their way out of it. We can’t.”

Pinsent Mason’s Ms Dodd says that they have learnt from Asian colleagues not to plan too far ahead. “It’s so counter-intuitive for law firms. We’re trying to say don’t plan in future. Let’s take things week by week. Don’t make too many predictions. People are saying they are worrying about six weeks’ time. We try to say, don’t ruminate on that.”

And some good news

For some, working from home is a chance to spend time with family or pause to reflect. Mr Moult says, “often in the chaos of daily life we don’t have an opportunity to think about our purpose.” The pandemic has exposed the fact that the best-paid are not essential, triggering soul-searching among financiers and lawyers. “There’s a recalibration,” says Mr Mount. “We have had a society that has privileged moneymaking, agency and self-determination.” Now public service and social connections are prioritised.

Ollie Dearn, who works in marketing at Havas, the advertising group, says that as an introvert working in an industry dominated by extroverts, he has found he has “more energy, my head is clearer and I’m getting a lot done.” Though by week four, the novelty had worn thin and turned into a “slog”.

While technology allows him to do the majority of his work remotely, it doesn’t replicate the day-to-day human interaction the office brings. “I miss gossip, laughing, bouncing ideas off people and general small talk. That’s difficult to replicate on Zoom. Everything has become diarised, to the detriment of spontaneity,” he says. “For me, ‘work’ and ‘life’ has begun to blend into one — although I am now fiercely protecting my weekends. While everyone has adapted to working from home remarkably well, the longer it goes on, the more exhausting it gets.”

‘Humans saved me — including my employers’

In the past four years — in the UK alone — nearly 20,000 people have committed suicide. That’s a terrifying statistic for anyone; but it’s especially poignant for me because, following a mental breakdown in September 2016, I was very nearly one of them, writes Josh Roberts .

There are lots of reasons why I didn’t end-up killing myself; but if I had to summarise them in a single word it would be “humans”. Humans saved me — my parents, my family, my friends, my girlfriend and, perhaps surprisingly, my employers.

When I am speaking about my book about the experience, Anxious Man , business leaders often ask if there’s anything they can do to encourage mental wellbeing among their employees. And these concerns have only grown more acute in recent weeks.

The answer, of course, is yes. There is a lot that businesses can do to both prevent and cure mental health problems like mine.

They can, for example, implement comprehensive employee assistance programmes that provide access to counselling. Or they can provide medical insurance that emphasises mental as well as physical health. Or they can insist on ways of working which promote mental wellbeing (no emails after 8pm, no weekend working).

Most importantly, businesses and their leaders can embed a culture of honesty when it comes to mental health. Mental health problems — be they anxious, depressive or obsessive — are cancers of the mind. The longer they are left, the bigger they become and the harder they become to operate on. Early intervention — getting folks to admit they need help — is key. And businesses can play a vital role in encouraging this.

‘ Anxious Man’ , by Josh Roberts, is published by Yellow Kite, £14.99

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Four Habits to Help Kids With Social Anxiety

Anjali sat at the kitchen table in front of a blank piece of paper. She sat, and sat, and sat. Then she got up from the table and walked away. The unfinished task? A Valentine’s card for her grandmother.

What was the problem? Eleven-year-old Anjali was the one who had decided to make a card, so the problem was not a lack of care. What was holding her back was a fear that her card would not be good enough for her grandma. Although she was seated alone at the table, she was experiencing social anxiety.

Social anxiety involves fear of negative evaluation, and this fear can stem from social interactions or performing in front of others. As Anjali pondered the creation of her card, she was imagining that her grandma would negatively judge her card and reject her.

Performance and social anxiety can be a natural part of growing up, but they can become problematic if children begin to avoid situations that trigger their fears or their fears become overwhelming. For youth, social anxiety disorder is often identified during the teenage years, and it includes anxiety related to interacting with peers . Often we hear about cases of teens who avoid going to school and interacting socially.

Other forms of social anxiety in children can include fears of being awkward in front of peers, fears of displeasing authority figures, fears of negative evaluation from others, preoccupation with siblings’ judgments, or an unwillingness to try tasks that don’t bring immediate success. Of course, experiencing anxiety about how others perceive you is a normal part of being human; it doesn’t necessarily mean that a child has an anxiety problem. What can make a difference in their life trajectory is not so much the presence or absence of these patterns, but rather how a caregiver helps a child respond to their fears.

Here are four habits that can help kids and parents effectively respond to anxiety-related symptoms before they reach the debilitating level of a disorder.

1. Notice and name your feelings, thoughts, and sensations

The journey to coping effectively with any mental or emotional challenge always begins with awareness. Kids who are experiencing social anxiety need to become aware of the emotions, thought patterns, and body sensations that accompany their anxiety.

To help kids identify feelings patterns, I like to use the Feelings Habit Animal Quiz that I developed. There are four feelings-related animal habits that many kids have: Bear explodes with feelings, beaver obsesses about feelings, chameleon hides feelings, and deer is ashamed of feelings. Most kids quickly relate to one or more of these feelings habits.

Playfully identifying with a feelings animal can help kids observe their habits with less judgment. It is common for kids with social anxiety symptoms to have the beaver habit of obsessing and the deer habit of feeling ashamed, but it’s important to remember that kids with anxiety are not always quiet and timid. Kids with anxiety can also hide feelings or be explosive with feelings. The key is to help kids non-judgmentally recognize and name their feelings habits. Naming our feelings can help to deactivate the alarm center of the brain , which can allow kids to think more clearly.

In addition to identifying feelings, it can also be helpful for kids to notice their thought patterns. It is common for kids with social anxiety problems to have a number of distorted thinking patterns that contribute to their anxiety. For this reason, one common treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which can help kids identify these “cognitive distortions.”

When I teach kids about cognitive distortions, I call them “mind muddles.” Caregivers who would like to help kids informally learn about problematic thinking patterns could play a game of “pretend” with a child, imagining that a child’s favorite stuffed animal or toy is having big feelings and distorted thoughts. After listening to the stuffed toy’s thoughts, you could help the child to identify the mind muddles.

Just as I use a set of animals to talk about feelings, I use another set of animals to help kids learn resilience habits in both the Parent-Child Self-Compassion program that I’ve developed as well as the Quest for Self-Compassion workbook series. Spots the giraffe is the resilience animal that can help us to “spot” our feelings, thoughts, five-senses and sensations. In this excerpt from the first Quest for Self-Compassion workbook , Spots invites us to “spot” Bear’s mind muddles:

Once children are adept at noticing and labeling the mind muddles of their stuffed animals, you can begin labeling your own mind muddles out loud, and then eventually help kids identify their own.

2. Understand that you are not alone

In a recent study (not yet published) of the Self-Compassion for Children and Caregivers program, the number-one resilience habit that kids reported using was the “Buddy habit.” Buddy the dog is the resilience habit animal that helps us to remember that we are not alone when we experience hard things. Children reported that the “Buddy habit” helped them with all kinds of difficult feelings:

“I find the Buddy habit really helpful, whereas before . . . I was like ‘I’m the only person going through this.’” “The Buddy habit . . . taught me that everyone has feelings like this sometimes.”

Remembering that we are not alone can be especially helpful for kids dealing with social anxiety-related thoughts and feelings. Children with social anxiety are typically shame-prone and fearful of being negatively perceived by others. These children are often aware that their anxiety is not socially appropriate. Sometimes well-meaning adults tell kids that they “shouldn’t” feel anxious, but this just tends to compound kids’ anxiety and shame. What a child needs to hear instead is that other kids and grownups sometimes feel anxious, too. When an adult says, “Did I ever tell you about the time that I….” and shares about when they felt social anxiety, it creates a bridge to their child’s experience and helps the child internalize that they are not alone.

Caregivers can also expose their children to books in which the protagonists struggle with anxiety. Are You Mad at Me? is a delightful children’s book that tackles the topic of social anxiety in a playful way. When I left the book on a table in my living room, both of my daughters carefully read and reread the book. My younger daughter said, “What I love about it the most is that I can relate to it so much.”

3. Soothe and encourage yourself with kindness

Self-compassion is an antidote to shame, and studies of adults and youth who have taken self-compassion training have found significant decreases in their anxiety symptoms . In a nutshell, self-compassion invites us to learn to treat ourselves with the same kindness that we would offer to a good friend.

When I teach children about self-compassion, I introduce Snuggles the bunny. Snuggles can soothe us with kind words when we are struggling. Reassuring words include, “You are not alone, I’m here for you, and I care about you.”

When Snuggles dons a cape, it’s Super Snuggles. Super Snuggles can help kids to do hard things, including facing their anxiety fears. Super Snuggles likes to say, “I believe in you. You can do hard things. You’ve got this.”

One parent-based treatment program, Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), teaches parents to provide their children with both validating and encouraging words. Children need to know that adults understand their struggles with anxiety-related feelings and thoughts. They also need to know that we believe that they can handle their anxious feelings and do hard things.

4. Take action and celebrate progress

Let’s return now to Anjali’s fear of creating a card for her grandmother. I know a little bit more about this story, because I happen to be Anjali’s mom. And because I’m a self-compassion-for-children teacher, I was able to help her identify and name her fear, and understand that she was not alone; and I offered her both gentle validation and strong encouragement. We talked about the pictures and words she wanted to create, and with some effort she created the cover of the card. But when it came time to write the interior, she again froze. Aren’t you glad that I chose an example that did not have an easy ending!?

In Anjali’s case, she needed extra support to complete the interior of the card. Her anxiety was preventing her from putting words on paper, but she was able to engage in conversation about what she might want to say to her grandma. I recorded her words on my phone, and then I replayed the words and sat with her as she wrote the words in the card.

After her grandma’s card was complete, we called Grandma, who squealed with delight as Anjali shared it with her. I encouraged Anjali to soak in the goodness of her grandmother’s joy. We then together retold the story of her anxiety and connected it to the joy that she brought her grandma by creating the card despite her fear.

Often kids with anxiety want to avoid events that trigger their fear, but avoidance only compounds their anxiety over time. This is why recommendations for social anxiety emphasize helping children move forward in the face of fear.

Supporting children when they have anxiety is critical, and it’s also important to progressively help children learn to face fears independently. In the parent-based treatment program, SPACE, parents are taught to gradually reduce their accommodations to help children learn that they can cope and move forward in anxiety-provoking situations on their own.

Coincidentally, as I was writing this article, Anjali decided to make a birthday card for a friend’s birthday. Within 10 minutes, she had independently gotten the paper, written a note, and decorated and colored the card. When I asked her how she had whipped through it so quickly, she mentioned that she had seen kids give a friend very imperfect birthday cards the previous week, which had reduced her fear and increased her trust in her friends’ acceptance.

Does this mean that Anjali will no longer suffer from shame-prone social anxiety? Absolutely not. This is a process that we will walk through together again and again. It’s important to remember that there are myriad factors that will influence whether a child experiences anxiety on any given day, including their health, their relationship with others, and how much sleep they’ve gotten. Our job as caregivers is to equip kids with the ability to name their fears, understand that they are not alone, and help themselves through tender nurturing and strong action. Each time we bring resilience resources to a fear, we are placing another stone on the path that leads to freedom.

About the Author

Jamie lynn tatera.

Jamie Lynn Tatera is a certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher with a passion for sharing self-compassion with children and their grownups. She is an educator, author, mom, and creator of the Self-Compassion for Children and Caregivers program.

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Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression among Teachers: A Scoping Review

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Background: Worldwide, stress and burnout continue to be a problem among teachers, leading to anxiety and depression. Burnout may adversely affect teachers’ health and is a risk factor for poor physical and mental well-being. Determining the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers is essential for addressing this public health concern. Objective: To determine the extent of the current literature on the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Method: This scoping review was performed using the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews). Relevant search terms were used to determine the prevalence and correlates of teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Articles were identified using MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online), EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Data Base), APA PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Scopus Elsevier and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center). The articles were extracted, reviewed, collated, and thematically analyzed, and the results were summarized and reported. Results: When only clinically meaningful (moderate to severe) psychological conditions among teachers were considered, the prevalence of burnout ranged from 25.12% to 74%, stress ranged from 8.3% to 87.1%, anxiety ranged from 38% to 41.2% and depression ranged from 4% to 77%. The correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression identified in this review include socio-demographic factors such as sex, age, marital status, and school (organizational) and work-related factors including the years of teaching, class size, job satisfaction, and the subject taught. Conclusion: Teaching is challenging and yet one of the most rewarding professions, but several factors correlate with stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Highlighting these factors is the first step in recognizing the magnitude of the issues encountered by those in the teaching profession. Implementation of a school-based awareness and intervention program is crucial to resolve the early signs of teacher stress and burnout to avoid future deterioration.

1. Introduction

The teaching profession can be highly stressful, and this stress may lead to reduced job satisfaction, burnout, and poor work performance. Stress is a normal response to upsetting or threatening events and becomes pathological when chronic [ 1 ]. Chronic stress can impede day-to-day functioning and emotional balance, and it is a risk factor for developing other psychiatric illnesses, such as anxiety and depression [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Prolonged teacher stress negatively correlates with job satisfaction and positively correlates with intending to leave the teaching profession. It may also result in withdrawal behaviour, including physically or psychologically leaving the work setting [ 4 , 5 ]. Chronic stress may also lead to inappropriate anger and increased alcohol and drug consumption [ 6 , 7 ], and it can cause an individual to experience excessive anxiety, mental fatigue, and burnout, while also predicting increased depression [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. According to Maslach, stress occurs when a person perceives an external demand as exceeding their capability to deal with it [ 11 ]. Teacher stress can be associated with demoralization, and a disrupted sense of self-consistency [ 8 , 9 ]. Canadian teachers, like their global counterparts, also experience high-stress levels. A study by Biron et al. showed that the proportion of Quebec teachers who reported a high level of psychological distress was twice as high (40%) as that reported for a Quebec-wide general population sample (20%) [ 12 ]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, survey results indicated that nearly 70% of respondents worried about their mental health and well-being [ 13 ]. Meanwhile, a cross-sectional study showed that two-thirds of teachers perceived stress at work at least 50% of the time [ 14 ]. Teacher workload is one of the most common sources of stress [ 15 ]; however, there is a lack of systematic understanding about how stress is measured, its prevalence globally, what factors lead to stress and what causes the associated negative outcomes among teachers.

Burnout is considered a stress-related problem for individuals who work in interpersonally oriented occupations such as healthcare and education [ 16 , 17 ]. According to Shukla et al., burnout among professionals such as teachers can result from excessive demands on their energy, strength and resources [ 7 ]. There is increasing evidence that burnout as a negative stress response represents a risk factor not only for depression but also for cardiovascular and other somatic diseases [ 17 ]. Researchers conceptualize burnout as having three interrelated components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ]. Emotional exhaustion represents emotional depletion and a loss of energy. Depersonalization is the interpersonal dimension of burnout. It refers to a negative, callous, or excessively detached response to other people. There is evidence that job satisfaction is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and positively associated with self-perceived accomplishment, but not significantly related to cynicism [ 18 ]. Additionally, reduced accomplishment describes the self-evaluation dimension of burnout, including feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement and productivity at work [ 6 , 16 , 18 , 19 ]. Mild burnout involves short-lived irritability, fatigue, worry, or frustration. Moderate burnout has the same symptoms but lasts for at least two weeks, whereas severe burnout may also entail physical ailments such as ulcers, chronic back pain, and migraine headaches [ 20 ]. Research suggests that workplace improvements to reduce burnout could prevent adverse sequelae, improve health outcomes, and reduce healthcare expenditures [ 21 ]. More systematic research is needed to further understand the factors in the workplace to address burnout and improve teacher health outcomes.

Anxiety and perceived stress are predicted by workload, student behaviour, and employment conditions [ 22 ]. According to Kamal et al., a considerable lack of administrative support is the single biggest factor increasing anxiety [ 23 ]. Those with low job satisfaction are more susceptible to experiencing burnout, high anxiety levels and depression [ 24 , 25 ]. Teacher stress contributes to teacher anxiety and may trigger anger, further intensifying anxiety [ 5 , 26 ]. The published literature shows that participants who reported high anxiety levels also reported high burnout levels [ 27 ]. Moreover, some studies report a very high prevalence of stress (100%), anxiety (67.5%), and depression (23.2%) among teachers [ 28 ], prompting calls for research and interventions to address this critical issue [ 23 ]. Despite this, more research is needed to understand what factors play key roles in triggering anxiety symptoms among educators and how stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression relate to each other.

Depression can lead to numerous deficiencies and is considered the worldwide primary cause of work disability [ 29 , 30 ]. Depression among teachers can also significantly impact their health, productivity, and function [ 31 ], with particularly pervasive effects on personal and professional life [ 32 ]. Individuals with depression often experience difficulties meeting interpersonal, time-management, and productivity demands. They may also encounter psychological problems, decreased work quality, absences due to illness, and increased work disability, all of which can profoundly impact worker productivity [ 30 , 31 , 33 ]. One study found that teachers’ most robust major depressive disorder (MDD) predictors included a low job satisfaction, high perceived stress, somatization disorder, and anxiety disorder [ 31 ]. Like with anxiety symptoms, more research is needed to understand what factors play key roles in triggering depression symptoms among educators and how depression relates to other psychological conditions including stress, burnout, and anxiety.

Currently, the authors are planning a study to assess the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among elementary, junior high and high school teachers in Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada [ 34 ]. This planned study will also evaluate the effectiveness of a daily supportive text message intervention, the Wellness4Teachers program, to address stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among elementary and high school teachers in Canada [ 34 ]. Within this context, this scoping review aims to identify and summarize the literature on the prevalence and correlates of teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression and to determine the problem’s extent in different jurisdictional contexts. The review also aims to identify the gaps in knowledge for future research. Identifying the correlates of these emotional and mental conditions may also facilitate the research and development of early interventions which can be implemented to address this phenomenon.

2.1. Study Design

This scoping review was planned and conducted in adherence to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) statement [ 35 ]. We adopted a comprehensive search strategy that allows replicability, reliability, and transparency. This scoping review also followed Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage approach to scoping reviews: identifying the research question, searching for relevant studies, the study selection, charting the data, and collating, summarizing and reporting the results [ 36 ].

2.2. Developing the Research Question

Our research question was: “What are the prevalence and correlates of primary and secondary teachers’ stress, burnout anxiety and depression in different jurisdictions?”

2.3. Information Sources and Search Strategy

The search was performed by using relevant terms to identify and select articles in the following databases: MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online; Ovid MEDLINE ALL), EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Database; Ovid interface), APA PsycINFO (Ovid interface), CINAHL (Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature) Plus with Full Text (EBSCOhost interface), Scopus Elsevier and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center (EBSCOhost interface). The search consisted of keywords representing the concepts of stress, burnout, depression and anxiety among teachers and their correlates and prevalence. The specific MeSH terms, keyword and descriptors included: (depress* OR depression OR “depressive disorder” OR “depressive symptoms” OR “major depressive disorder” OR anxiety OR “anxiety disorder” OR “generalized anxiety disorder”) AND (burnout OR “burn out” OR stress OR “occupational stress” OR “mental exhaustion” OR “emotional exhaustion”) AND (teacher* OR educator* OR tutor* OR schoolteacher* OR “school teacher*”). The database search was completed on the 20th of February 2022.

2.4. Selection of Studies

The search strategy was developed based on specific inclusion criteria. Articles were considered eligible for inclusion in this scoping review if they addressed either the prevalence or correlates of burnout, stress, depression, or anxiety among teachers or educators. The articles were limited to original, peer-reviewed quantitative articles written in English. Articles were excluded from the review if the study participants were tertiary or university teachers or students. Studies on interventions’ outcomes, case reports, meta-analyses, systematic reviews, opinion pieces, commentaries, editorials, or grey literature such as non-peer-reviewed graduate student theses, non-research articles or conference reports were excluded. The search was not limited by publication year. Two researchers independently reviewed the citations during the title, abstract screening, and full-text review phase. All discrepancies were resolved through discussion and consensus. We identified 190 articles for full-text review, of which 120 articles were excluded. The PRISMA flow diagram summarizes this information in detail ( Figure 1 ).

PRISMA flow chart.

2.5. Data Charting and Extraction Process

The research team extracted data for each selected article according to the following domains: author(s) name, year of publication, country of study, study design, assessment tools used, sample size (N), age, main findings, and conclusion.

2.6. Collating, Summarizing, and Reporting the Results

This study presents an overview of existing evidence relating to the prevalence and the correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. All the relevant data were organized into tables and validated by at least two team members. The characteristics and results reported in each included article were summarized. In addition, the prevalence range for the psychological conditions in high-quality studies were determined after identifying the high-quality studies for each psychological condition in this scoping review using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) critical appraisal checklist for prevalence studies [ 37 ]. The JBI checklist includes: studies with an adequate sample size, studies which provided an appropriate sample frame to address the target population, studies with an adequate response rate, studies which had a high response rate, studies in which a systematic approach was used for the data capture to ensure the study sample was representative of the study population, and studies with an adequate statistical analysis.

3.1. Study Characteristics

The search strategy identified 10,493 citations. Covidence software [ 38 ] was used to automatically remove 5711 duplicates. One hundred and ninety articles remained for a full-text screening, and seventy of these were eligible for inclusion. Overall, 67 articles were quantitative cross-sectional studies. One study was a mixed quantitative and qualitative study, and two studies were randomized controlled trials. The seventy articles included a total of 143,288 participants, who were all teachers. The sample size for an individual article ranged from 50 to 51,782 participants, with an age range from 18 years to 75 years. The minimum response rate was 13% and the maximum was 97.4% with the median response rate of 77%. The articles included studies from 1974 to 2022. Most studies (79%) were published between 2007 and 2022, and 21% were from 1974 to 2006. Most of the studies were conducted in Europe (40%), followed by Asia (30%) and North America (19%). In contrast, African, South America and Oceanian studies represented 6%, 1% and 4%, respectively, as shown in Figure 2 . One study [ 39 ] was conducted across multiple continents.

Summary of studies by continents.

From Figure 3 : Most studies reported on multiple outcomes, indicating the interrelatedness of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Some articles reported on a single outcome, such as stress (N = 9), burnout (N = 8), or depression (N = 6). Burnout and depression (N = 15), stress and depression (N = 5), burnout and anxiety (N = 2), anxiety and depression (N = 4), and stress and anxiety (N = 4), were commonly paired outcomes. One study (N = 1) specifically examined the paired outcomes of burnout and stress. In addition, the outcome of the interaction between three or four of these psychological problems were explored by some studies: anxiety, depression, and stress (N = 10); anxiety, burnout and depression (N = 1); stress, burnout and anxiety (N = 1); stress, burnout, and depression (N = 2). Finally, two articles reported the interaction between stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression.

Distribution of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression among the included studies.

Figure 4 shows that depression was the most reported psychological problem among the included studies and the least reported was anxiety.

Number of studies reporting each psychological problem.

Most of the articles (27 of 32; 84%) used Maslach’s Burnout Inventory to explore the three interrelated components of burnout. Five of thirty-two (16%) studies used the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Inventory, or the Teacher Burnout Scale. The most frequently utilized scales for measuring depressive or anxiety symptoms (55 studies) were the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (N = 14; 25%), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), (N = 10 18%), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), (N = 9; 16%), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), (N = 6; 11%). The less popular scales included the Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Questionnaire, COVID-19 Anxiety Scale, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and the Manifest Anxiety Scale. For the 29 studies measuring stress, the most common scales utilized were the (DASS) (N = 9; 31%), the Teacher Stress Inventory (N = 5; 17%), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (N = 3; 10%). Other scales included: the Occupational Stress Inventory, Job Stress Inventory, Ongoing Stressor Scale (OSS), Episodic Stressor Scale, and Bruno’s Teacher Stress.

3.2. Prevalence and Correlates of Burnout, Stress, Anxiety and Depression

The prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression as identified in the literature search are summarized in Table A1 and Table A2 in Appendix A .

3.3. Prevalence of Stress

The reported stress prevalence rates were heterogenous, which may reflect, in part, the use of different stress measures. The prevalence of stress in all forms ranged from 6.0% to 100% [ 28 , 40 ], with a median of about 32.5%. In addition, the lowest, highest and median stress prevalence ranges from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 6.0% [ 40 ], 66.0% [ 41 ] and 10.7%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median stress prevalence up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 7.0% [ 42 ], 100% [ 28 ] and 33.9%.

Early studies of teacher stress found a relatively high degree of stress. For example, 76% [ 43 ] and 87.1% [ 44 ] of teachers described their stress levels at their school as moderate or significant, respectively. In some studies, 45.6% reported “much stress” [ 44 ] or “almost unbearable” stress (20%) [ 43 ]. Another study echoed these findings, reporting 32% ‘slightly’ stressed and 67% ‘extremely’ stressed teachers, with only 1% indicating no stress [ 45 ].

Earlier studies on teacher stress are consistent with more recent findings, indicating teacher stress is a long-standing issue and is challenging to tackle. A 2021 study completed during the COVID-19 pandemic reported a 6.0% prevalence of severe to highly severe stress among teachers [ 40 ]. This is similar to another recent but pre-pandemic study which reported a 7.0% prevalence of “severe to extremely severe” stress, a 32.3% prevalence of stress, and 25.3% prevalence of mild to moderate stress [ 42 ].

3.4. Prevalence of Burnout

Published studies have identified three different burnout profiles among teachers with the prevalence ranging from 25.12% to 48.37% [ 11 , 46 ]. These are, (1) groups of teachers with predominantly low levels of emotional exhaustion and high levels of personal accomplishment, (2) teachers with high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and (3) teachers with low levels of depersonalization and personal accomplishment [ 46 ]. These groups show the combination of the three interrelated components of burnout reported by Maslach et al. [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ].

Variable prevalence of burnout and psychological distress have been reported among teachers [ 47 ], with the burnout prevalence at all levels ranging from a low of 2.81% [ 7 ] to a high of 70.9% [ 48 ], with a median of 28.8% ( Table A1 ). The lowest, highest and median burnout prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 3.1% [ 48 ], 70.9% [ 48 ] and 27.6%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median burnout prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 2.81%, 63.43% [ 7 ] and 25.09%.

In an early study, only 11% of the teachers were classified as burnt out, and more than half (68.5%) of the teachers reported they did not experience any burnout [ 49 ]. Some studies reported burnout prevalence in the three subdimensions [ 50 ]. For instance, four studies reported a burnout prevalence of 11% to 40% for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and for reduced personal accomplishment [ 3 , 46 , 49 , 50 ]. Studies have also reported that 18.3% to 34.9% of teachers may be at risk of or are threatened by burnout syndrome [ 3 , 25 , 51 ]. Higher burnout scores and subdimensions such as emotional exhaustion and depersonalization burnout were significantly higher among female teachers than male teachers [ 51 , 52 , 53 ]. Likewise, a higher percentage of males (59.38%) showed low burnout than did females (53%) [ 54 ]; however, other studies have reported contradictory results where males had a slightly higher burnout prevalence of 56.0% than females of 53.0% [ 55 ] and 31.88% of males and fewer females (25%) reported a lack of personal accomplishment [ 54 ].

There are also studies reporting various levels of burnout ranging from low/no burnout (58.12%) to moderate (2.81% to 70.9%) and severe levels of burnout (3.1% to 33.3%) [ 7 , 25 , 47 ]. Regarding the subjects taught by teachers, science stream and science teachers reported experiencing slightly more burnout (14.38% to 26.26%) than arts stream and art teachers, who reported an average burnout prevalence of 12.5% to 25% [ 7 ].

3.5. Prevalence of Anxiety

The anxiety symptoms prevalence ranged from 4.9% to 68.0% [ 42 , 56 ], with a median prevalence of 26.0%. Furthermore, the lowest, highest, and median anxiety prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 10.5% [ 57 ] 66.0% [ 41 ] and 38.9%. Similarly, the lowest, highest, and median anxiety prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 7.0% [ 28 ], 68.0% [ 42 ] and 26.0%.

Early studies indicated that teachers’ anxiety prevalence ranged from 26% for borderline anxiety, 36% for minimal or no anxiety, and 38% for clinically significant anxiety [ 45 ]. Recent studies have reported a similar prevalence for low anxiety at 17.6%, mild at 23.2% [ 28 ] and 7.0% to 23.3% for severe to extremely severe anxiety [ 28 , 39 , 41 ]. Another study reported an anxiety prevalence of 43% among teachers. The prevalence of anxiety did not change significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, with most teachers (56.2%) reporting no change in their anxiety during the pandemic compared with before the pandemic, and only 4.9% of teachers reported an increase in anxiety levels from the baseline during the first week of the 2020–2021 school year [ 58 ].

3.6. Prevalence of Depression

The prevalence of depression among teachers ranged from 0.6% to 85.7% [ 48 , 59 ], with a median of 30.7%. The lowest, highest, and median depression prevalences from 2020 to 2022 (after the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 0.6% [ 48 ], 85.7% [ 59 ] and 23.5%. Similarly, the lowest, highest and median depression prevalences up until 2019 (prior to the pandemic and lockdown) were, respectively, 0.7% [ 28 ], 85% [ 60 ] and 24.1%.

Early studies showed a highly varied prevalence of depression, with 79% of teachers scoring at the low or no depression levels in one study. This study also reported that 17% of teachers had borderline depression scores, and 4% had scores that indicated clinical depression [ 45 ]. Studies from 2008 onwards identified that the prevalence of depression ranged from 17.86% to 49.1% [ 3 , 41 , 55 , 60 , 61 ] and the prevalence of severe to extremely severe depression ranged from 0.7 to 9.9% [ 42 ], whilst the prevalence of mild depression ranged from 20 to 43.9% [ 41 , 42 , 60 , 62 ]. Soria-Saucedo et al. reported a particularly high prevalence (16%) of severe depression symptoms among teachers [ 61 ]. Depression was also found to range from 45% to 84.6%, depending on the educational level and teaching experience, and was highest among those with a lower education level, followed by teachers with more teaching experience [ 42 ].

Studies during the pandemic demonstrated higher rates of mild depression but similar rates of severe depression symptoms among teachers. In one study, 58.9% of teachers had mild depression, 3.5% had moderate, and 0.6% had severe depression. [ 48 ]. Another study reported that 3.2% of teachers had severe to extremely severe depression [ 40 ]. According to Keyes, ‘flourishing’ denotes being filled with positive emotion and functioning well psychologically and socially while ‘languishing’ in life signifies the individual has poor mental health with low well-being [ 59 , 62 ]. Capone and Petrillo reported that 38.7% of ‘flourishing’ teachers reported a lower prevalence of depression but higher levels of job satisfaction. A severe rating of depression was also reported by 85.7% of ‘languishing’ teachers [ 59 ].

3.7. Prevalence Range and Median for Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression Reported in High Quality Studies

After applying the JBI checklist [ 37 ] to identify high-quality studies, the clinically meaningful (moderate to severe) burnout among teachers recorded by three studies ranged from 25.12% to 74% [ 25 , 46 , 47 ]. Similarly, three studies reported stress at clinically meaningful levels which included severe, extremely severe, moderate to high or very stressful, and a great deal of stress, with a prevalence ranging from 8.3% to 87.1% [ 43 , 44 , 57 ]. Likewise, two studies reported the prevalence of clinically meaningful anxiety among teachers ranging from 38% to 41.2% [ 45 , 57 ]. Furthermore, five studies [ 44 , 47 , 57 , 63 , 64 ] reported the prevalence of depression in clinically significant levels, which included terminologies such as major, moderate, moderate to severe, and extremely severe depression symptoms. The lowest prevalence in this category was 4% [ 45 ] and the highest category was 77% [ 65 ]. Finally, the median prevalence of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among these studies were, respectively, 67.0%, 60.9%, 39.6%, and 14.%.

3.8. Correlates of Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression

The correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, as extracted from Table A1 and Table A2 , are summarized in Table 1 . A wide range of variables are significantly associated with teachers’ stress, burnout, anxiety and depression and can be divided into socio-demographics, school, organizational and professional factors, and social and other factors, including intrapersonal factors. The most reported correlates were sex, age, gender, marital status, job satisfaction, subject taught and years of teaching [ 28 , 40 , 57 , 63 , 66 , 67 ]. Socio-demographic factors, such as age and sex, and work-related factors correlate with depression, anxiety and stress [ 42 ]. Emotional exhaustion is correlated with age, gender and marital status. [ 39 , 52 , 53 , 68 ]. Other studies, however, refute these, indicating that no significant demographic variable correlations were found between burnout and depression, and that depressive symptoms in men and women were similar [ 64 , 69 ]. Capone et al. also noted that all the school climate factors, such as social support, were negatively related to depression [ 70 ]. Higher levels of co-worker support were related to lower levels of anxiety and depression [ 71 ].

Demographic, school and professional correlates of burnout, stress, anxiety and depression.

Organizational factors associated with anxiety included: work overload, time pressures causing teachers to work during their free time, and role conflict. There were significant correlations between the reported anxiety and those stressors relating to pupils and parents [ 45 ]. In addition, interpersonal conflict, organizational constraints and workload were reported to result in depression through increasing job burnout [ 73 ]. Furthermore, depressive symptoms correlated with teaching special needs students and had a significant and robust relationship with the general burnout factor [ 50 ]. Self-perceived accomplishment was also positively associated with autonomy and negatively associated with low student motivation [ 18 ]. Personal accomplishment had a significant positive relationship with the number of teaching hours per week [ 40 ]. On the contrary, a cross-sectional study by Baka reported that increased work hours are usually accompanied by job demands, job burnout, and depression [ 73 ]. Job strain, job demand and job insecurity all showed positive associations with depressive symptoms [ 80 , 94 ]. Work-related factors, such as workload, were also correlated with stress, burnout, depression, and anxiety [ 42 , 73 ].

Furthermore, the educational level and teaching experience also predict depression. Depression was highest among teachers with a lower education followed by teachers with the most teaching experience [ 42 ]. Teacher stress was reported to be significantly associated with psychological distress, and social support could moderate the influence of stress; hence, the high-stress and the low-support group were most vulnerable to anxiety [ 74 ]. Studies have also reported that 55% of teachers without spousal support had depression [ 42 ]. In addition, stress was reported to be associated with missed work days, high anxiety and high role conflict [ 43 , 89 ] and 53.2% of teachers identified work as a source of long-term stress, leading to burnout [ 55 ]. According to Fei Liu et al. resilience significantly correlated with job burnout and turnover intention, and low resilience could result in a high job burnout [ 86 ]. The research also showed that personality trait neuroticism was the best predictor of burnout (28–34%) [ 67 ].

3.9. Association between Stress, Burnout, Anxiety and Depression

A significant overlap was reported between stress, burnout, anxiety and depression. Eighteen articles reported a correlation between burnout and depression, with differences in depressive symptomatology depending on the prevalence of burnout [ 3 , 18 , 25 , 41 , 42 , 48 , 50 , 52 , 54 , 60 , 64 , 69 , 84 , 86 , 92 , 95 ]. Three articles reported a correlation between burnout and anxiety symptoms [ 52 , 64 ]. Seven articles reported a correlation between stress and anxiety [ 28 , 58 , 65 , 71 ]. Six articles reported a correlation between stress and depression [ 28 , 31 , 43 , 61 , 68 , 71 ]. A correlation exists between moderate depressive disorder and anxiety disorder as well as stress [ 31 , 96 ]. Negative affectivity (a tendency to feel depression, anxiety, or stress) plays a role in the development of burnout among teachers. Teachers who developed a more markedly negative affectivity also felt more burnt out, and the opposite was true [ 41 ]. This may be related to rumination. According to Nolen-Hoeksema, rumination is a pain response which entails a recurrent and passive focus on the symptoms of pain and their likely causes and outcomes [ 97 ]. Ruminative responses may prolong depression by overly focusing on negative thinking and may affect one’s behaviour and problem-solving [ 97 ]. Liu et al. reported that rumination moderated the association between job burnout and depression and that burnout was a stronger predictor of depression in teachers who experienced low rumination rather than high rumination [ 98 ]. This was explained by the importance of rumination for depression; with an improvement in the rumination level, job burnout had less ability to predict depression for those with high rumination levels.

There is a strong association between burnout and depression, as reported in several studies. High frequencies of burnout symptoms were identified among clinically depressed teachers [ 92 ], with 86% to 90% of the teachers identified as burnt out meeting the diagnostic criteria for a depressive disorder [ 60 , 64 ], mainly for major depression (85%) [ 60 ]. In 25% to 85% of teachers with no burnout, depression ranged from 1% to 15% of the study sample. Specifically, only 1% to 3% of the participants in the no-burnout group were identified as having minor depression or depression not otherwise specified (2%) [ 60 , 64 ]. A history of depression was reported by about 63% of the teachers with burnout and 15% of the burnout-free teachers [ 60 ]. The high overlap between depression and burnout was emphasized in one study, which categorized depression as “low burnout-depression” (30%), “medium burnout-depression” (45%), and “high burnout-depression” (25%) [ 92 ]. Notably, the report suggests that although teacher burnout leads to subsequent depressive symptoms, it is not true vice versa [ 95 ]. Furthermore, burnout symptoms at ‘time one’ did not necessarily predict depressive symptoms at ‘time two’ [ 99 ]. Another study reported a positive relationship between burnout and depression [ 84 ]. This was confirmed by a study which suggested that depressive symptoms had a significant and robust association with the general burnout factor [ 50 ].

Anxiety disorder is also associated with higher perceived stress and major depression [ 65 ]. In one study, higher ongoing stressors were positively associated with higher anxiety levels. Continuous and episodic stressors were significantly and positively associated with anxiety and depression. They accounted for 28% (adjusted 25%) of the variability in anxiety and 27% (adjusted 24%) of the variability in depression. [ 71 ]. In contrast, higher levels of co-worker support were related to lower levels of anxiety and depression [ 71 ]. Teachers reported a high prevalence of depressive symptomatology relating to subjective and school-related stress [ 43 ].

4. Discussion

This scoping review included 70 articles. The prevalences of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression reported in this scoping review are similar to those reported in two systematic reviews and meta-analysis conducted among teachers during the pandemic. For example, the prevalence of stress reported by Ma et al., from a meta-analysis of 54 studies was 62.6%, whereas the prevalence of anxiety was 36.3% and depression was 59.9% among teachers during the pandemic [ 100 ]. In another meta-analysis, the prevalence range of anxiety was 10% to 49.4%; depression was 15.9% to 28.9%; and stress was 12.6% to 50.6% [ 101 ], which all fall within the range reported in this scoping review for stress [ 28 , 40 ], anxiety [ 42 , 56 ], and depression [ 48 , 59 ]. However, the minimum in all cases was higher during the pandemic, suggesting an increase in psychological problems during the pandemic.

The varying prevalence for stress, burnout, anxiety and depression reported by different studies in this review may be attributable to heterogeneous study designs, including the sample size, location, period of data collection, diversity in the standardized scales used for the assessment, and other factors such as the class size and grade taught [ 102 , 103 ]. In this scoping review, the studies used combinations of terminologies such as “none,” “slightly,” “significant,” “much,” “extremely,” “considerably”, “almost unbearable”, “quite a bit” or “a great deal” to describe the level of stress experienced by teachers according to the measures utilized,, such as the Teachers Stress Inventory [ 44 , 77 ] or the Bruno Teachers Inventory [ 43 ]. The prevalence rates also varied with population, for example, in the case of Fimian, the teachers were teaching special needs students, and this may explain the relatively high prevalence (87.1%) recorded [ 44 ]. More recent studies which used other scales, such as the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), used terminologies such as “symptoms of stress”, ranging from “mild,” “moderate,” “mild to moderate” or “extremely severe”, to describe the stress levels. For burnout, although most studies used a combination of the three interrelated components of burnout reported by Maslach et al. [ 6 , 7 , 11 , 16 ], some studies focused on reporting the sub-dimensions of burnout, whilst others reported general burnout. Varying expressions such as “low burnout”, “high burnout, “severe burnout”, and moderate were used to describe burnout, making it difficult to make an effective comparison. It was also not clear whether the stress and burnout experienced by the participants were everyday existential life experiences that everyone faces or chronic ones that needed intervention, as these were not specifically stated in the studies. It is essential that future research clarifies this to estimate their prevalence rates more accurately. Secondly, as indicated in the review, the studies applied various scales to measure the prevalence of psychological disorders; however, there was a lack of consensus. This scoping review provides a comprehensive picture of the prevalence of the target outcomes and sets up a foundation for future systematic reviews and meta-analysis to accurately estimate the prevalence of these outcomes among teachers.

The essential correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression identified in this review include socio-demographic factors such as sex, age, gender, marital status, school (organizational) factors and work-related factors (years of teaching, class size, job satisfaction, subject taught and absenteeism). Most studies were published in the last fifteen years (2007–2022), indicating a recent increase in interest in this area of research.

4.1. Socio-Demographic, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Stress

Socio-demographic factors such as sex, age and marital status significantly influence teacher stress [ 54 ]. Sex correlates with stress although there are some conflicting reports [ 42 , 53 , 76 ], especially between the levels of stress experienced by males and females. Some studies suggest that female teachers experience more stress than their male counterparts [ 28 , 75 , 77 ]. Working women often have additional demands at home, and trying to accomplish both roles may increase their stress levels [ 104 ] compared to males who may have less demand from home. However, this may be context-dependent, as no sex difference in occupational stress was reported among police officers [ 105 ], for example. The demand from female teachers’ personal lives, including marital issues and home, may be a source of increased stress levels [ 104 ]. Among the general workforce, work–family conflict has been reported to be significantly associated with work stress [ 106 ], and this is not confined only to females. This argument is confirmed in three separate studies, which reported that gender, per se, was not a significant predictor of perceived stress [ 39 , 85 , 89 ]; thus, it is possible that these differences may, rather, be due to differences in the scales used or the effect of organizational factors. For example, the organisational effect experienced by female teachers in a female only elementary or high school may differ from that experienced in a male only or mixed sex teaching environment; however, further research is needed in this area of gender influencing stress factors. Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey data nonetheless endorsed a difference between males and females regarding work stress, in particular supervisor support. Higher levels of supervisor support seemed to lower work stress amongst women but not men [ 107 ]. Among the general population, social support at work could be more strongly related to a stress reduction in women than in their male counterparts [ 108 ] Sex difference was also observed in relation to student behaviour, with women experiencing increased stress [ 42 , 77 ]. In particular, female teachers’ collective efficacy and beliefs about their school staff group capabilities may lower their stress from student behaviour. Findings from the study by Klassen support the hypothesis that teachers’ collective efficacy serves as a job resource that mediates the effect of stress from student behaviour [ 77 ]. Interventions addressing gender/sex differences may also be considered in supporting female educators’ mental health and work productivity.

A study among refugee teachers also endorsed sex differences in stress [ 42 , 57 ]; however this was in relation to self-care and the association was moderated by age [ 57 ]. Higher occupational stress scores were observed among teachers over 40 years [ 28 ]; nonetheless, among the general population, the published literature reports that the ageing process can worsen or counter the effects of stress [ 109 ], indicating that age does not necessarily increase stress. The cause of increased stress, hence, shifts to other factors such as the poor academic performance of students, or a lack of assistance [ 78 ], which may be influencing an increase in stress.

The class size, grade level taught, workload, poor student performance or lack of progress and other work and school-related factors contribute to teachers’ stress. According to Fimian et al., when stressful events or the perception of them are not ultimately resolved or improved, this may result in several physiological manifestations [ 44 ]. There is clear data indicating that teacher stress was intensified among primary school teachers, special needs teachers, and teachers in private schools who provided more support and input to students than other teachers [ 28 , 78 , 85 , 110 ]. The additional time and energy teachers may invest in primary school kids, who are usually much younger and may require more support, may explain the increased stress among primary school teachers. Again, teaching special needs students may require significant teacher input and assistance, depending on the nature and degree of the disabilities. There is also an increased expectation from teachers in private schools regarding the students’ performances, leading to increased stress [ 28 ]. A study conducted among primary and secondary school teachers in Pakistan concluded that government school teachers were more satisfied with their working conditions than private school teachers [ 110 ], and thus, may experience less stress. In addition, the school location (rural vs. urban), teacher role ambiguity and coherence further exacerbated teacher stress [ 3 , 75 , 89 , 111 ]. An excessive use of technological devices, such as mobile phones, has also been associated with social disruption [ 112 ] and may result in a lack of concentration or poor student performance at school [ 112 , 113 ], leading to teacher stress. Teachers experiencing more significant stress were also burnt out [ 68 ]. For example, during the pandemic, teachers had to adopt and adjust to teaching online, and virtual instruction teachers had the most increased anxiety [ 58 ]. Nonetheless, a rapid systematic review with a meta-analysis reported that teacher stress during the pandemic was still comparatively lower in school teachers with a prevalence of 13% ([95% CI: 7–22%]) in comparison to studies with university teachers as the participants of 35% ([95% CI: 12–66%]) [ 114 ].

While there are complex interactions among several factors which contribute to teacher stress, there have been limited evidence-based interventions to help teachers alleviate these stress sources despite some self-reported coping strategies. This research gap started to receive attention during the COVID-19 pandemic through the application of mindfulness-based interventions [ 115 ], warranting more advanced research on how to best address these challenges in education.

4.2. Socio-Demographic, Years of Teaching, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Burnout

Burnout continues to pose problems within the teaching profession, and factors such as gender, sex, age, marital status and the number of years teaching correlated with the degree of burnout [ 40 , 47 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 63 , 67 , 68 , 72 , 73 ], although conflicting results were reported with potentially different explanations. Differences in the study design, particularly the scales used to assess burnout as well as geographical and organizational factors, may account for some of the conflicting results. In addition, there could be an interplay between some personal and professional factors. For example, younger teachers are more likely to be enthusiastic about their new teaching careers, whilst older teachers may experience boredom leading to increased exhaustion. Consistent with this hypothesis, one study reported that teachers who had taught for the fewest (0–5) years experienced the lowest burnout prevalence [ 54 ]. On the contrary, more experienced teachers were likely to have gained exposure, learnt students’ characteristics and classroom management skills and the necessary tools to help them prevent and address burnout. Additionally, teachers who lacked self-fulfilment may have been mostly younger and lacked personal accomplishments [ 47 ], leading to more burnout.

Significantly higher burnout scores, including for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and intellectual burnout were found among female teachers than among male teachers in some studies [ 51 , 52 , 53 ], whilst other studies reported that burnout was higher among male teachers. These results are contrary to findings reported among police officers, which indicated no significant difference in the levels of occupational burnout reported by male and female police officers [ 105 ]. Further studies are needed to investigate the contradictory gender differences in teachers’ burnout by different studies. In addition, research is needed on innovative gender-neutral ways of addressing burnout in teachers. Other structural factors, such as the number of children teachers have and class sizes which are associated with increased teacher burnout, require an increased investment in teachers and schools to address them. Governments providing teachers with affordable childcare and other supports for their own children, and building more schools to reduce the class sizes, may lead to a reduced burnout among teachers.

There is also a relationship between burnout and school or work-related factors. The subjects and grades taught and the medium of instruction all contribute to teachers’ burnout [ 7 , 51 ]. Teachers’ perceptions of the difficulty of a subject taught appears to determine their degree of burnout experienced; however, no particular subject seems to be the leading cause of burnout. High school teachers may perceive an increased workload in terms of the amount of time attributed to class preparation due to the difficulty of a subject taught. A cross-sectional study among nurses also found that role overload contributed to higher levels of emotional exhaustion [ 116 ] and this was also endorsed among healthcare managers where prolonged job strain resulted in burnout and an increased turnover intention [ 117 ]. This suggests there is a complex interaction between self-perception and burnout, which makes burnout in teachers a complex problem to address. Differences were also noted in the prevalence of burnout among teachers working in different countries [ 84 ]. For example, 58% of the variance in burnout in Cyprus could be explained by job satisfaction and anxiety, whereas 57.5% of the variance in burnout in Germany was explained by job satisfaction alone [ 84 ]. Different countries have different working conditions which may explain the differences in job satisfaction and associated burnout prevalence among teachers in different countries.

4.3. Effect of Resilience on Burnout

Resilience involves adapting well in the face of stress, difficulty, trauma, disaster, and threats. Resilient people use positive emotions to rebound and find positive meaning even in stressful circumstances [ 118 ]. Resilience had a significantinverse correlation with job burnout and turnover intention, and resilience could negatively predict job burnout [ 86 ]. Resilience was also reported to have an inverse association with burnout symptoms [ 119 ]; thus, increased resilience is linked to decreased burnout and, hence, the tendency for a teacher to remain in their job and thrive no matter what they encounter. Job burnout had a significant positive predictive effect and correlation with turnover intention, which suggests that the more severe the job burnout is, the higher the turnover intention [ 86 ]. Teachers require positive emotions and an increased resilience to remain in the profession and succeed without quitting. Conversely, among physicians, a survey indicated that the burnout prevalence was still significant even among the most resilient physicians; however, West et al. suggested that physicians exhibited higher levels of resilience than the general working population [ 119 ], including teachers. Additionally, resilience was also a significant predictor of depression and anxiety [ 88 ]; thus, the higher the resilience, the less likely teachers will experience depression or anxiety.

4.4. Socio-Demographic, School and Work-Related Factors as Determinants of Depression and Anxiety

Socio-demographic, school and work-related factors are all associated with both anxiety and depression [ 42 , 50 , 51 , 80 ]. This association is consistent with what was reported in a systematic review and meta-analysis by Ma et al., which suggested that teachers’ experiences of psychological issues were associated with various socio-demographic factors such as gender, institutional factors, teaching experience, and workload volume [ 100 ]. In this scoping review, conflicting results were found in relation to the association between teacher gender and depression. Whilst some studies reported that female teachers have higher depression levels than male teachers [ 42 , 51 , 70 , 79 , 81 , 82 ], other studies have reported no gender differences in teacher depression levels [ 53 ]. Contradictory results were also reported for the association between the age of teachers and depression, with some studies reporting higher depression levels in younger teachers [ 42 ] and others reporting higher depression in older teachers [ 51 ]. As discussed previously, it is likely that the use of different scales, coupled with organizational factors, contributed to these contradictory findings among the different studies. The findings also indicated that most female teachers who suffered from depression had been working for about 11 to 15 years [ 120 ].

A poor workplace environment has also been associated with increased anxiety and depressive symptoms [ 121 ] and school-related stress may transition to depressive symptoms among teachers [ 80 , 94 ]. As teachers’ workloads increase, their working hours will invariably increase, resulting in a rise in job demand and ultimately a surge in stress, leading to anxiety and depression. A systematic review reported similar findings where the main risk factors associated with anxiety and depression included job overload and job demands. [ 122 ]. The research also shows that teachers are not the only exception regarding experiencing a poor workplace environment which may lead to increased anxiety and depression [ 122 , 123 ]. Improving teachers’ workplace environments may, therefore, reduce the prevalence of anxiety and depression among teachers. Anxiety has also been linked to stressors relating to pupils and parents. For example, the possibility of a parental complaint increased anxiety scores [ 45 ]. Generally, parents want their children to succeed academically, which sometimes creates friction between teachers and parents. The underperformance of students or failure may be blamed on teachers or construed as the responsibility of schools and teachers [ 124 ], which may result in increased stress and subsequently anxiety and depression for teachers.

Social support was also reported to predict anxiety and depression symptoms, with high support levels indicating fewer symptoms related to anxiety and severe depression [ 121 , 125 ]; thus, teachers who perceived social support at school (e.g., the personnel relation dimension) expressed a lower stress level than those who did not [ 75 ]. According to Peele and Wolf 2020, anxiety and depressive symptoms increase for all teachers over the school year, and poor social support plays a significant role in the development of anxiety and depression symptoms [ 121 ]. Organizational policies that include the provision of adequate social support for teachers may, therefore, be a useful strategy to prevent and mitigate anxiety and depressive symptoms among teachers.

5. Limitations

The scoping review is not without limitations. This scoping review searched for articles in the English language only. Though every effort was made to identify all relevant studies for this review considering our eligibility criteria, we may have left out some relevant studies, particularly those published in other languages. Our search included six databases, yet the overall search strategy may have been biased toward health and sciences. Searching other bibliographic databases may have yielded additional published articles. Furthermore, different studies included in this scoping review used various screening tools and worldwide diagnostic classifications to determine stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression, leading to variations in the prevalence estimates. The scoping review included studies from 1974 till date; therefore, it is possible that the theoretical approaches to the concept of burnout may have changed. Notwithstanding these potential changes in the theoretical approaches to the concept of burnout, the burnout prevalence among teachers has appeared to have remained stable over the years. There was also no evaluation of the risk of bias for the included studies. Despite these limitations, this scoping review provides an excellent perspective on the prevalence and correlates of stress, burnout, anxiety and depression among teachers.

6. Conclusions

Teachers’ psychological and mental health is of utmost importance as it indirectly affects the students they teach. The stress associated with the teaching profession can be linked to three major overlapping issues: burnout, anxiety, and depression, which have a myriad of effects, including an impact on teachers’ health, well-being, and productivity. A wide range of prevalences and correlates were reported for stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Differences in the severity were observed in different articles resulting in the diverse prevalence reported among the various studies. The differences in the measurement instruments creates critical knowledge gaps, making it difficult for researchers to make effective comparisons between the different studies. Future research should focus on addressing these research gaps arising from methodological issues, especially the use of different scales to allow for a meaningful comparison. Researchers, educators, and policy makers could benefit from an international consensus meeting and agree on common scales to be used when assessing stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression in teachers. Such an international consensus meeting can also help to streamline the definition of stress and can be used as a forum for addressing other methodological issues related to research and innovations involving elementary and high school teachers. Future research can also focus on exploring the gender differences in these psychological issues further, especially, defining the various subsets of gender being referred to and the specific prevalence in each case. In addition, the high prevalence of stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression reported particularly by several high-quality studies suggests that these psychological problems are widespread among teachers and deserves special attention both at the level of policy and practice.

This scoping review also highlights the risk factors associated with stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Identifying these risk factors is a significant step toward addressing these issues among teachers. Schools need to prioritize and promote interventions aimed at teachers’ personal wellbeing. Testing and implementing the interventions aiming to improve teachers’ well-being and ability to cope are important to address stress and burnout, with the expectation that this will prevent or reduce anxiety and depression. This may include school-based awareness and intervention programs to detect the early signs of teacher stress and burnout, or programs that incorporate meditation techniques or text-based support. Meditation techniques have been proposed to be effective in improving psychological distress, fatigue and burnout [ 126 ]. For example, mindfulness practice has been suggested as beneficial in coping with job-related stress, improving the sense of efficacy and reducing burnout in the teaching profession [ 127 ]. Interventions such as mobile text technology are an evidence-based, unique, and innovative way that offers a convenient, low cost and easily accessible form of delivering psychological interventions to the public with mental health problems [ 128 , 129 , 130 ]. Mobile text-based programs can be easily implemented at the school level to support teachers’ psychological needs. Future studies need to explore the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of intervention programs for improving mental health outcomes among teachers. For instance, the Wellness4Teachers program which is planned for implementation in Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada [ 34 ], is expected to provide evidence of effectiveness for the use of daily supportive text messaging to combat stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression among teachers. Finally, governments, school boards and policymakers need to collaborate with researchers on the design and implementation of measures to enhance teachers’ mental health, productivity (teaching) and quality of life.

Summary of studies with prevalence and correlates of Burnout/Stress.

* Katsantonis 2020 (15 countries)—Japan and Korea form the East-Asian model. France and Spain form the Latin model. Denmark and Sweden form the Northern model. Australia and the United Kingdom represent the Anglo-Saxon model and finally, Belgium and the Netherlands form the Germanic model. Sample Size: SS; Emotional Exhaustion: EE; Personal Accomplishment: PA; Depersonalization: DP; Occupational Stress: OS; Sense of Coherence: SOC; Science Stream: SCIS; Art Stream: AS.

Summary of studies with prevalence and correlates of Depression/Anxiety.

Sample Size: SS; Major Depressive Disorder: MDD.

Funding Statement

This study was supported by the Mental Health Foundation and the Douglas Harden Trust Fund.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, B.A; software, and validation, B.A., G.O.-D. and L.B.; methodology and formal analysis, B.A.; data curation, B.A. and G.O.-D.; investigation and resources, B.A. and Y.W.; writing—original draft preparation, B.A.; writing—review and editing, B.A, G.O.-D., L.B. and Y.W.; supervision, L.B. and Y.W. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, the interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the results for publication.

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