The effect of interpersonal relationships on burnout syndrome in Secondary Education teachers.

BACKGROUND Recent studies show that teachers, especially in Secondary Education present varying levels of burnout syndrome. This problem could be caused by internal factors unique to the subject (psychological characteristics) or external factors (overwork, social climate, etc.). METHOD The objective of this study is to analyze the influence of interpersonal relationships on the development of burnout in a sample of 794 secondary education teachers from the Community of Madrid, applying structural equation modeling methodology. RESULTS it was observed that the teacher-student relationship has a significant effect on each of the three dimensions of the syndrome (exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy), and the teacher-superiors and teacher-coworker relationships show a moderate effect on these dimensions. CONCLUSIONS The results show the importance of taking care of interpersonal relationships in schools to ensure the well-being of teachers and, ultimately, the quality of the learning process.