Chapter 16: Teacher Stress in Working With Behavioral Problems of Students in Hong Kong: A Comparative Study

We surveyed teachers (N = 1210) in ordinary primary schools in Hong Kong to explore their perception of the (1) incidence of challenging student behaviors, (2) stress of dealing with challenging student behaviors, (3) beliefs about dealing with challenging student behaviors, (4) areas impacted by challenging student behaviors, and (5) school characteristics. The study compared our data with responses collected from teachers in six countries. Using bivariate correlation, canonical correlation, and one-way ANOVA, we found that teacher stress associated with student challenging behaviors was highly correlated with perceived incidence of challenging behaviors. To a lesser extent, it was significantly correlated with teachers’ self-efficacy, negative affect, and self-critical attitude, followed by various school characteristics. While various negative impacts on teachers were strongly associated with aggregated teacher stress, stress was more strongly associated with teacher beliefs than with perceived school characteristics. Compared to their counterparts in six other countries, Hong Kong teachers reported the most severe impacts of student behavioral problems and most negative beliefs in working with these students.