Mindfulness, resilience, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention in secondary physical education teaching

Introduction: Results from the broader psychology literature indicate that mindfulness may be a highly valuable personal resource. However, the construct has enjoyed far less attention in the field of school psychology, specifically within the context of physical education. The stressful nature of physical educators’ work warrants inquiry focused on the interplay between the psychologically supportive constructs of mindfulness and resilience and the psychologically depletive constructs of emotional exhaustion on turnover intention. Objective: This study examined the relationships between secondary physical educators’ trait mindfulness, resilience, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention. Method: A total of 246 physical educators across the United States completed an online questionnaire measuring trait mindfulness, resilience, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intention. Data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Results: After verifying the factor structure, results of structural equation modeling indicated that trait mindfulness was positively associated with resilience, and negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and turnover intention. Resilience was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion, which in turn was positively associated with turnover intention. Resilience partially mediated the trait mindfulness-emotional exhaustion relationship while emotional exhaustion fully mediated the resilience-turnover intention relationship. Conclusion: Given their ability to impact students’ experiences in physical education through the class culture they create, it is crucial that physical educators feel as though they can manage the emotional demands of their work. This study highlights the importance of trait mindfulness and resilience in efforts of enhancing physical educators’ wellbeing and job-related attitudes.