The role of resilience in the relationship between role stress and psychological wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic: a crosssectional study
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Date
2023
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC Psychology
Abstract
Background Stress resistance resources, such as social support and resilience, have been found to be important
in promoting psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most prior research studies have
conceptualized stress resistance resource variables as having a mediating or moderating role. Cooper (2018) proposed
a model of the relationship between stress and health which posits that coping resources are always present and not
only invoked in the face of adversity. Thus, we hypothesize that coping resources are causally antecedent to stressors
and influence well-being indirectly via the stressor. We focused specifically on school teachers due to them being at
the frontlines of service provision during the pandemic. Teaching was already identified as a highly stressful profession
prior to COVID-19 and disease containment measures placed additional strain on teachers who had to adapt to
emergency remote teaching.
Aim The current study tests this hypothesis by examining the indirect effects of resilience on indices of psychological
health via role stress.
Methods Participants (N=355) were teachers who completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10, the
Role Stress Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-Trait Scale, and the Center for
Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. An electronic version of the questionnaires was distributed to teachers via
Facebook and to officials from the Department of Education, who assisted with distribution of the electronic link to
the survey. Participants were mostly women (76.6%) and mean number of years in the teaching profession was 15.7.
Results Structural equation modelling results demonstrated significant direct effects of resilience on life satisfaction,
anxiety, and depression, which indicates that resilience is beneficial for psychological health even in the absence of
stress. Resilience also had a significant indirect effect on indices of psychological well-being via role ambiguity but not
role conflict.
Description
Keywords
Psychological well-being, Role stress, Mediation, Resilience, Indigenous model of stress-mental health
Citation
Padmanabhanunni, A., Pretorius, T. B., & Khamisa, N. (2023). The role of resilience in the relationship between role stress and psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study. BMC Psychology, 11(1) doi:10.1186/s40359-023-01082-w