The Effect Of Social Support On Burnout Among Rural Junior Middle School Physical Education Teachers

Purpose of the study: The promulgation of the "double reduction" policy has promoted the high quality development of physical education.It also put forward higher quality requirements for the development of physical education teachers.As the quality of teaching increases,the work pressure and psychological stress of PE teachers increases,resulting in teachers job burnout.Studies have shown that burnout is currently most severe among junior high school teachers,significantly higher than primary and high school teachers.Rural teachers are a special group of teachers.At present,many rural teachers are working passively just to make a living,and some choose to leave rural areas for better urban schools in pursuit of a better quality of life,making it even worse for rural schools which already lack teachers.Therefore,avoiding burnout is an urgent issue that needs to be solved.Research shows that social support is an essential factor in burnout.At the same time,psychological capital and professional identity,as positive psychological states,can play a role in the influence of social support on burnout.Therefore,this study selects rural junior high school physical education teachers in Jining as the research object,examines the current situation of social support,burnout,psychological capital,and professional identity among rural junior high school physical education teachers in Jining,and explores the relationship between the four dimensions to provide a theoretical basis and practical guidance for the study of burnout among rural junior high school physical education teachers in Jining.Research Methodology:First,was used SSRS、MBI-ES、Psy Cap Questionnaire,、Professional Identity Scale for Secondary School Physical Education Teachers were to examine 320 rural junior high school physical education teachers in Jining City,and finally 296 valid questionnaires were obtained,with a reasonable return rate of 92.5%.The current situation of their levels of burnout,social support,psychological capital,and professional identity was investigated,and the differences between the four in terms of gender,education,teaching experience,and age were explored to explore the influence of social support,psychological capital and professional identity on burnout.SPSS 26.0and AMOS 23.0 were used for data processing,and the main statistical methods were:descriptive analysis,One-way ANOVA,independent sample t-test,correlation analysis,and mediation effect analysis.Research findings :(1)In terms of the overall situation,59.46% of physical education teachers in rural junior high schools in Jining experienced burnout,35% of them showed moderate burnout or more,and the level of burnout in the emotional exhaustion dimension was relatively high.The overall level of social support,psychological capital,and professional identity of rural junior high school physical education teachers in Jining is high,but the stories of each dimension show unevenness.(2)In terms of differences,there were significant differences in burnout among physical education teachers by gender,education,age,and years of teaching experience(P =0.028,P =0.022,P =0.001,P =0.011).Burnout is higher among men than women and highest among PE teachers with a postgraduate degree,less than five years of service,and aged 20-30.There were significant differences in the psychological capital of physical education teachers by teaching experience and age(P =0.009,P =0.000).Physical education teachers aged 20-30 and working for less than five years have the weakest psychological capital.Career identity differed significantly only in terms of educational attainment(P =0.017).Physical education teachers with graduate degrees had the lowest sense of professional identity.Physical education teachers with bachelor’s degrees had the highest sense of professional identity.There was no significant difference in social support in terms of gender,age,education,and teaching experience.(3)In terms of correlations,social support,and burnout had a significant negative correlation(r=-0.312,P <0.01),with the utilization dimension having the highest correlation coefficient for the low achievement dimension(r=-0.334,P <0.01);psychological capital and burnout had a significant negative correlation(r=-0.429,P<0.01),with optimism having the highest had the highest correlation coefficient(r=-0.437,P <0.01);career identity and burnout had a significant negative correlation(r=-0.-490,P <0.01),with emotional identity having the highest correlation coefficient on the low achievement dimension(r=-0.474,P <0.01).(4)The mediating effect shows that social support can either directly affect rural junior high school physical education teachers’ burnout(β =-0.15,P < 0.05)or indirectly affect burnout through the mediation of psychological capital(β =-0.051,P < 0.05)and professional identity(β =-0.046,P < 0.05)alone,or the chain mediation of both psychological capital and professional identity indirectly influencing burnout(β =-0.067,P < 0.05)Research findings: Psychological capital and professional identity can play a mediating chain role in the influence of social support on burnout.Based on the above results,the study proposes feasible suggestions for alleviating burnout among rural junior high school physical education teachers at three levels: individual,organizational,and social.