The effect of social comparison tendencies on EFL teachers’ experience of burnout and instructional self-efficacy

Figures & data

Table 1. Frequency and percentage of the participants with respect to their age range

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	<20	10	3.6
	20–30	172	61.6
	30–40	82	29.4
	>40	15	5.4
	Total	279	100.0

Table 2. Frequency and percentage of the participants with respect to gender

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	Female	209	74.9
	Male	70	25.1
	Total	279	100.0

Table 3. Frequency and percentage of the participants with respect to their level of education

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	BA	119	42.7
	MA	151	54.1
	PhD	9	3.2
	Total	279	100.0

Table 4. Frequency and percentage of the participants with respect to their years of teaching

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	<2	57	20.4
	2–5	88	31.5
	5–10	96	34.4
	>10	38	13.6
	Total	279	100.0

Table 5. Frequency and percentage of the participants with respect to centers they taught English

		Frequency	Percent
Valid	Language centers	235	84.2
	Universities	4	1.4
	Both	40	14.3
	Total	279	100.0

Figure 1. The distributions of the participants in terms of their age range.

Figure 2. The distributions of the participants in terms of their gender.

Figure 3. The distributions of the participants in terms of their level of education.

Figure 4. The distributions of the participants in terms of their years of teaching.

Figure 5. The distributions of the participants in terms of centers they taught English.

Table 6. Suggested standards for the reliability index

Interpretation	Reliability indices
Good	0.80
Acceptable	0.70
Marginal	0.60
Poor	0.50

Source: Barker et al. (1994).

Table 7. Reliability statistics for the BSCTE questionnaire

Cronbach’s alpha		N of items
BSCSE questionnaire	0.807	46

Table 8. Item statistics for the items of the “exhaustion” section of the burnout questionnaire

	Mean	SD	N
1. I feel emotionally drained by my work	2.717	1.2124	279
2. Working with people all day long requires a great deal of effort	3.986	0.9055	279
3. I feel like my work is breaking me down	2.233	1.1024	279
4. I feel frustrated by my work	2.029	1.1055	279
5. I feel I work too hard at my job	3.247	1.1567	279
6. It stresses me too much to work in direct contact with people	1.918	1.0442	279
7. I feel like I am at the end of my rope	1.781	1.0030	279

Note: The significance of bold values shows the highest and lowest SD and mean of the items.

Table 9. Item statistics for the items of the “depersonalization” section of the burnout questionnaire

	Mean	SD	N
8. I feel I look after certain students impersonally, as if they are objects	2.065	1.0122	279
9. I feel tired when I get up in the morning and have to face another day at work	2.294	1.1441	279
10. I have the impression that my students make me responsible for some of their problems	2.968	1.2095	279
11. I am at the end of my patience at the end of my workday	2.190	1.0911	279
12. I really do not care about what happens to some of my students	1.914	1.0106	279
13. I have become more insensitive to people since I have been working	2.097	1.1195	279
14. I am afraid that this job is making me uncaring	1.828	1.0103	279

Note: The significance of bold values shows the highest and lowest SD and mean of the items.

Table 10. Item statistics for the items of the “personal achievement” section of the burnout questionnaire

	Mean	SD	N
15. I accomplish many worthwhile things in this job	3.749	1.0221	279
16. I feel full of energy	3.746	1.0230	279
17. I am easily able to understand what my students feel	3.984	0.9328	279
18. I look after my students’ problems very effectively	3.806	0.8214	279
19. In my work, I handle emotional problems very calmly	3.767	0.8893	279
20. Through my work, I feel that I have a positive influence on people	3.971	0.8086	279
21. I am easily able to create a relaxed atmosphere with my students	4.208	0.8090	279
22. I feel refreshed when I have been close to my students at work	4.104	0.9016	279

Note: The significance of bold values shows the highest and lowest SD and mean of the items.

Table 11. Item statistics for the items of the “social comparison upwards and downwards” section of the questionnaire

	Mean	SD	N
23. I often compare myself with others with respect to what I have accomplished in life	3.430	0.9826	279
24. If I want to learn more about something, I try to find out what others think about it	3.140	1.0888	279
25. I often compare how my loved ones (boy or girlfriend, family members, etc.) are doing with how others are doing	3.104	1.0795	279
26. If I want to find out how well I have done something, I compare what I have done with how those who are much better than me have done it	3.563	1.0468	279
27. I always like to know what others in a similar situation would do	3.581	0.9406	279
28. I am not the type of person who compares often with others	3.158	1.0232	279
29. I often compare how I am doing socially (e.g. social skills, popularity) with other people	3.222	1.0004	279
30. If I want to find out how well I have done something, I compare what I have done with how those who are much worse than me have done it	2.559	1.1392	279
31. I often try to find out what others think, those who face similar problems as I face	3.480	0.9362	279
32. I often like to talk with others who are higher than me about mutual opinions and experiences	3.878	0.9779	279
33. I often compare how I am doing socially (e.g. social skills, popularity) with other people who are more important than me	3.484	1.0208	279
34. I always pay a lot of attention to how I do things compared with how others do things	3.068	1.0208	279
35. I never consider my situation in life relative to that of other people	3.007	0.9891	279
36. I often like to talk with others who are lower than me about mutual opinions and experiences	2.437	1.0773	279
37. I often compare how I am doing socially (e.g. social skills, popularity) with other people who are less important than me	2.416	1.0139	279

Note: The significance of bold values shows the highest and lowest SD and mean of the items.

Table 12. Item statistics for the items of the “teacher instructional self-efficacy” section of the questionnaire

Item statistics
	Mean	SD	N
38. I can influence the class sizes in my school	3.305	0.9038	279
39. I can get through to the most difficult students	3.556	0.9074	279
40. I can promote learning when there is lack of support from the home	3.552	0.8753	279
41. I can keep students on task on difficult assignments	3.810	0.7702	279
42. I can increase students’ memory of what they have been taught in previous lessons	3.928	0.7310	279
43. I can motivate students who show low interest in schoolwork	3.767	0.8264	279
44. I can get students to work together	4.068	0.7532	279
45. I can overcome the influence of adverse community conditions on students’ learning	3.584	0.8041	279
46. I can get students to do their homework	4.022	0.7093	279

Note: The significance of bold values shows the highest and lowest SD and mean of the items.

Table 13. The relationship between social comparison tendencies-upward and downward-, the three subscales of burnout, and instructional self-efficacy

			Upward tendencies	Downward tendencies	Exhaustion	Depersonalization	Personal achievement	Teacher instructional self-efficacy
Spearman’s rho	Upward tendencies	Correlation Coefficient	1.00	−0.009	−0.009	0.066	0.185^**	0.108
		Sig. (2-tailed)	–	0.885	0.885	0.273	0.002	0.071
		N	279	279	279	279	279	279
	Downward tendencies	Correlation Coefficient	−0.009	1.00	0.123^*	0.195^**	0.028	−0.033
		Sig. (2-tailed)	0.885	–	0.040	0.001	0.647	0.587
		N	279	279	279	279	279	279
	Exhaustion	Correlation Coefficient	−0.009	0.123^*	1.000	0.603^**	−0.271^**	−0.173^**
		Sig. (2-tailed)	0.885	0.040	–	0.000	0.000	0.004
		N	279	279	279	279	279	279
	Depersonalization	Correlation Coefficient	0.066	0.195^**	0.603^**	1.000	−.404^**	−.207^**
		Sig. (2-tailed)	0.273	0.001	0.000	–	0.000	0.000
		N	279	279	279	279	279	279
	Personal achievement	Correlation Coefficient	0.185^**	0.028	−0.271^**	−0.404^**	1.000	0.495^**
		Sig. (2-tailed)	0.002	0.647	0.000	0.000	–	0.000
		N	279	279	279	279	279	279
	Teacher instructional self-efficacy	Correlation Coefficient	0.108	−0.033	−0.173^**	−0.207^**	0.495^**	1.000
		Sig. (2-tailed)	0.071	0.587	0.004	0.000	0.000	–
		N	279	279	279	279	279	279

^* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

^** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table

Questions	1. Strongly disagree	2. Disagree	3. Neither agree nor disagree	4. Agree	5. Strongly agree
1. I feel emotionally drained by my work	1	2	3	4	5
2. Working with people all day long requires a great deal of effort	1	2	3	4	5
3. I feel like my work is breaking me down	1	2	3	4	5
4. I feel frustrated by my work	1	2	3	4	5
5. I feel I work too hard at my job	1	2	3	4	5
6. It stresses me too much to work in direct contact with people	1	2	3	4	5
7. I feel like I’m at the end of my rope	1	2	3	4	5
8. I feel I look after certain students impersonally, as if they are objects	1	2	3	4	5
9. I feel tired when I get up in the morning and have to face another day at work	1	2	3	4	5
10. I have the impression that my students make me responsible for some of their problems	1	2	3	4	5
11. I am at the end of my patience at the end of my work day	1	2	3	4	5
12. I really don’t care about what happens to some of my students	1	2	3	4	5
13. I have become more insensitive to people since I’ve been working	1	2	3	4	5
14. I’m afraid that this job is making me uncaring	1	2	3	4	5
15. I accomplish many worthwhile things in this job	1	2	3	4	5
16. I feel full of energy	1	2	3	4	5
17. I am easily able to understand what my students feel	1	2	3	4	5
18. I look after my students’ problems very effectively	1	2	3	4	5
19. In my work, I handle emotional problems very calmly	1	2	3	4	5
20. Through my work, I feel that I have a positive influence on people	1	2	3	4	5
21. I am easily able to create a relaxed atmosphere with my students	1	2	3	4	5
22. I feel refreshed when I have been close to my students at work	1	2	3	4	5
23. I often compare myself with others with respect to what I have accomplished in life	1	2	3	4	5
24. If I want to learn more about something, I try to find out what others think about it	1	2	3	4	5
25. I often compare how my loved ones (boy or girlfriend, family members, etc.) are doing with how others are doing	1	2	3	4	5
26. If I want to find out how well I have done something, I compare what I have done with how those who are much better than me have done it	1	2	3	4	5
27. I always like to know what others in a similar situation would do	1	2	3	4	5
28. I am not the type of person who compares often with others	1	2	3	4	5
29. I often compare how I am doing socially (e.g. social skills, popularity) with other people	1	2	3	4	5
30. If I want to find out how well I have done something, I compare what I have done with how those who are much worse than me have done it	1	2	3	4	5
31. I often try to find out what others think, those who face similar problems as I face	1	2	3	4	5
32. I often like to talk with others who are higher than me about mutual opinions and experiences	1	2	3	4	5
33. I often compare how I am doing socially (e.g. social skills, popularity) with other people who are more important than me	1	2	3	4	5
34. I always pay a lot of attention to how I do things compared with how others do things	1	2	3	4	5
35. I never consider my situation in life relative to that of other people	1	2	3	4	5
36. I often like to talk with others who are lower than me about mutual opinions and experiences	1	2	3	4	5
37. I often compare how I am doing socially (e.g. social skills, popularity) with other people who are less important than me	1	2	3	4	5
38. I can influence the class sizes in my school	1	2	3	4	5
39. I can get through to the most difficult students	1	2	3	4	5
40. I can promote learning when there is lack of support from the home	1	2	3	4	5
41. I can keep students on task on difficult assignments	1	2.	3	4	5
42. I can increase students’ memory of what they have been taught in previous lessons	1	2.	3	4	5
43. I can motivate students who show low interest in schoolwork	1	2.	3	4	5
44. I can get students to work together	1	2	3	4	5
45. I can overcome the influence of adverse community conditions on students’ learning	1	2	3	4	5
46. I can get students to do their homework	1	2	3	4	5

Barker, C., Pistrang, N., & Elliott, R. (1994). Research methods in clinical and counseling psychology (2nd ed.). England: John Wiley & Sons.

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