Coping Strategies of Teachers in Singapore: The Impact of Occupational Stress, Personality and Years of Service

This article examines the relations between coping strategies, personality traits and occupational stress within teachers’ years of experience in Singapore. Participants were teachers (N=202) from Singapore, and they completed four questionnaires including a demographic questionnaire, Teacher Stress Inventory (Fimian, 1984), Brief COPE Inventory (Carver, 1997) and Ten-Item Personality Inventory (Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003). Maladaptive coping strategies were found to be positively correlated with stress. However, unexpectedly, adaptive coping strategies for planning and acceptance were associated with more stress among teachers. Years of service was not found to be significantly related to stress. Instrumental support interaction was approaching significance with environmental stressors in predicting stress manifestations. Finally, interactions of Extraversion and Agreeableness were found between adaptive coping strategies and stress levels. Cultural considerations such as context, values, limitations, and future directions are discussed. Key words: teachers’ stress, coping strategies, personality, years of service, Singapore