Stress and burnout in rural and urban secondary school teachers

Sources of stress and symptoms of burnout were examined in 51 rural and 46 urban secondary school teachers from 11 school systems in Georgia and North Carolina. Urban school teachers experienced significantly more stress from poor working conditions and poor staff relations than did rural school tea chers. Stress from pupil misbehavior and time pressures was significantly g reater than stress from poor working conditions and poor staff relations fo r both rural and urban school teachers. Poor working conditions and time pr essures predicted burnout for rural school teachers; pupil misbehavior and poor working conditions predicted burnout for urban school teachers. Result s were discussed in relation to designing effective programs to prevent neg ative effects of stress and burnout.