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Role Strain, Emotion Management, and Burnout: Homeschooling Mothers' Adjustment to the Teacher Role
Author(s) -
Lois Jennifer
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
symbolic interaction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.874
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1533-8665
pISSN - 0195-6086
DOI - 10.1525/si.2006.29.4.507
Subject(s) - burnout , psychology , variety (cybernetics) , anxiety , developmental psychology , social psychology , emotional exhaustion , negative emotion , emotional labor , field (mathematics) , clinical psychology , psychiatry , artificial intelligence , computer science , mathematics , pure mathematics
Drawing from three years of field research with a homeschooling support group in the Pacific Northwest, I present the emotional stages mothers passed through as they tried to integrate the teacher role into their busy lives. In most cases, mothers found teaching more demanding than they had expected, straining their other roles as mothers and homemakers, as well as causing emotional burnout. To manage their insecurity, anxiety, and stress, mothers employed a variety of emotion management techniques. Mothers who successfully overcame burnout prioritized some roles, combined others, and received significant support from their husbands. I conclude by discussing the implications for theories of burnout.