The Relationships Among Ethical Ideology, Work Stress, and School Life Adjustment of Elementary School Teachers

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among idealism, relativism (two kinds of ethical ideology), work stress, and school life adjustment of elementary school teachers. The data were collected through questionnaires from a sample of 565 elementary school teachers in Kaohsiung city. The major instruments for this study included Teachers Idealism Scale, Teachers Relativism Scale, Teachers Work Stress Scale, and Teachers School Life Adjustment Scale. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to make parameter estimations. Path analysis revealed the following findings: First, idealism could negatively predict work stress, whereas relativism could positively predict work stress. Second, in the common estimation, idealism could positively predict school life adjustment, but relativism could not significantly predict school life adjustment. Third, work stress could negatively predict school life adjustment. Fourth, work stress was not the mediator among idealism, relativism and school life adjustment. The implications of this study to elementary school teachers’ human resource management in Kaohsiung and future studies were discussed.