Comparative Study of Mental Health of High School Teachers and Educational Counselors

Background : Teachers have an important effect on mental health and development of students. Teaching and counseling may be stressful jobs. The objective of this study was to compare psychological status of high school teachers and educational counselors measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).

Materials and Method : In a cross-sectional study 60 teachers (20 male and 40 female) and 60 educational counselors (20 male and 40 female) from high schools of Zahedan city were recruited randomly and asked to complete Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (Iranian short form of MMPI). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and t test.

Results : The results showed significant differences between teachers and educational counselors in 6 clinical scales of MMPI so that the teachers had higher scores than educational counselors in D (depression), Pd (psychopathy), Pa (paranoid), Pt (Psychastenia), Sc (schizophrenia) and Ma (hypomania) scales of MMPI. Mean scores of Male counselors in hysteria and psychopathy were higher than female's scores and also female teachers had higher mean scores in hypochondria, hysteria, paranoid, psychastenia and schizophrenia than male teachers.

Conclusion : Although the profiles of both teachers and educational counselors were normal but teachers had higher mean scores than counselors, thus, efforts need to be made to explore possible factors associated to those differences. [ZJRMS, 2012 14(1): 18-22 ]