A Study On Social Support, Coping Styles And Their Correlation For The Vocational Middle School Teachers

This research surveys 204 vocational middle school teachers in Zhuchengshi area of Shandong province region by adopting the coping style questionnaire and the social support measuring scale, and 15 teachers among them were sample interviewed. The result indicates the followings:(1)The utilization extent of social support for vocational school teachers is low, and the function of schools in organizing social support is weak. On the whole, female teachers of vocational schools get more subjective support and social support than male teachers. Married teachers get more objective support than unmarried teachers. Basic course teachers get more social support than specialized course teachers The utilization extent of social support for middle-aged teachers is lower than that for young teachers.(2) The vocational school teachers adopt more positive coping styles than negative ones; they score higher than the national average in the coping styles scale and have an obvious tendency to evade when problems occurs. The basic course teachers use less problem-solving coping styles than the specialized teachers while dealing with problems.(3) For the vocational middle schoolteachers, the higher of the social support level they have, the less of the negative coping styles like self-blaming, evading and rationalization they use. The subjective support influences not so obviously on the coping styles of vocational middle school teacher. And the social support influences not so obviously on the adopting of problem-solving method by the vocational middle school teachers.(4) For the young vocational school teachers, the better of the social support they have, the less of the fantasy and evading coping styles they use. The higher of the social support level the middle-aged vocational middle school teachers have, the more positive (problem-solving and help-seeking) and mixed (rationalization) coping styles they use. There is no significant correlation between the elder teachers'social support and their coping styles.(5) For the male vocational school teachers, there is significant correlation between their social support and their positive coping styles like problem-solving and help-seeking, a good social support level for male vocational middle school teachers will promote them to adopt more positive coping styles while dealing with problem. While there is a more significant correlation between the social support and negative coping styles for the female vocational middle school teachers, a good social support level can effectively reduce their negative coping styles.(6) The better of the social support the basic course teachers have, the less of the possibility is for them to use self-blaming, evading and rationalization negative coping styles. For the specialized teachers, a good social support level can promote their use of problem-solving and help-seeking approaches.