Teacher Burnout: A Comparison of Two Cultures Using Confirmatory Factor and Item Response Models

The present study addresses teacher burnout and in particular cultural differences and similarities in burnout. We used the Maslach Burnout Inventory Education Survey (MBI-ES) as the starting point for developing a latent model of burnout in two cultures; Jamaica W.I. teachers (N= 150) and New York City teachers (N= 150). We confirm a latent 3 factor structure, using a subset of the items from the MBI-ES that adequately fit both samples. We tested different degrees of measurement invariance (model fit statistics, scale reliabilities, residual variances, item thresholds, and total variance) to describe and compare cultural differences. Results indicate some differences between the samples at the structure and item levels. We found that factor variances were slightly higher in the New York City teacher sample. Emotional Exhaustion (EE) was a more informative construct for differentiating among teachers at moderate levels of burnout, as opposed to extreme high or low levels of burnout, in both cultures. In contrast, Depersonalization in the Workplace (DW) was more informative at the more extreme levels of burnout among both teacher samples. By studying the influence of culture on the experience of burnout we can further our understanding of burnout and potentially discover factors that might prevent burnout among primary and secondary school teachers.