Impact of Gender on Work-Related Stress and Burnout among University Professors

Work-related stress and burnout are psychosocial illnesses that have a negative impact on health. One of the variables that may be related to work-related stress is gender. Precisely, this paper presents an analysis to determine the extent to which female university professors show higher levels of stress in the workplace. Through a non-experimental quantitative methodology, an ad hoc constructed questionnaire was implemented. The instrument contains thirty items structured in five subdimensions (role stress, stress in university teachers, emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and lack of personal fulfilment). Descriptive, inferential, reliability and validity statistical analyses of the scale were carried out and the Rasch Measurement Theory (RFT) was used for profile analysis. The results reveal the presence of moderate levels of stress in 564 professors, mainly related to specific work-related tasks. In addition, it was confirmed that women in their first years of professional development, with a high teaching load and without positions of responsibility in university management tend to experience the most stress. These results justify the need to address psychosocial factors and stress management affecting teachers from a social, psychological and educational perspective in order to cope correctly with their duties.