Effects Of Societal, Organizational, And Individual Factors On Job Performance, Job Satisfaction, And Job Strain: Multiple Structural Equation Modeling In A Three Wave Longitudinal Panel Study Of New Teachers.

The major objective of this dissertation is to advance a theoretical research paradigm investigating the causal relationships to job stress on individual strain, mediated by characteristics of the individual. The study relates properties of the societal, organizational, and individual environment to job performance and job strain, mediated by self-esteem, coping skills and career commitment. A three wave longitudinal panel of 255 full-time new teachers in Michigan, derived from an original sample population of 1,202, were mailed questionnaires on their teaching situation, problems encountered, personal networks, teaching experience, problem solving, personal characteristics and teaching characteristics. The data were collected at three different stages in the teaching career. The first data collection was at the end of student teaching training. The second and third data collection took place exactly one and two years after the respondents graduated from college. The present inquiry attempts to examine the specific relationships between the job stress variables and the job strains during student training, the first year of teaching and the second year of teaching. In addition, using structural equation modeling, a theoretical research paradigm is constructed based on both cross-sectional and cross-lagged analyses. The results show that two dimensions are extremely important in interpreting the specific job stress-job strain relationships. The first year of teaching is a crucial stage in the teacher's career, and the results reveal strong differences in comparison to the tune of student training and the second year of teaching. The importance and duration of the socialization process is suggested. A second dimension to be considered is the distinction between being in a training situation and in a real professional setting. The structural equation analyses suggest that a distinction needs to be made between three levels of job stress (societal, organizational, and individual) in order to reproduce the data adequately and to understand fully the magnitude of the job stress-job strain relationships.Ph.D.EducationEducational psychologyTeacher educationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128082/2/8801290.pd