Violence, emotional labor, and depression level among Korean school teachers

Objective: Growth in economic conditions, increased parents' interest in their children, and changes in social values are occurring very rapidly in Korean society. In the educational field, this phenomenon affects the psychosocial health of teachers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the experience of violence, level of emotional labor, and level of depression among Korean school teachers through a nationwide study. Methodology: Four groups(elementary school, middle school, general high school, specializing high school) and two regional characteristics (rural and urban) were considered to make representative clusters. 5 schools were randomly selected for each group (in 8 groups). Then, we conducted a mail questionnaire to all the teachers in the school. Of the total of 79 schools and 3345 teachers, 1617 responded to the questionnaire (48.3%, response rate). Working conditions, health status, working hours, job stress, experience of violence, level of emotional labor, and depression level was included in the questionnaire. Results: 4.9% of urban specializing high school teachers reported experience of physical violence within the past one year. The rate of experiencing verbal abuse was 31.7% for urban middle school reachers and 38% for rural specializing high school teachers. They experienced violence mainly from students and parents. Overall, teachers experience less emotional demand than the other service groups, but the system of support for emotional labor and the protection system for prevention were very poor. 11.9% of all teachers complained of depression. Much higher prevalence was found in younger age groups. Especially, the teachers who took charge of the second grade of junior high school and the third grade of high school had remarkably high rate of depression complaint. The difficulty of student guidance, unfair teacher evaluation system, and increase of administration work were found to be facotrs affecing mental health of teachers.