Testing the Recovery Paradox: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis of Recovery Indicators in Teachers

• In Event: Student and Teacher Trauma

Abstract

This study investigated assumptions of the recovery paradox in teachers, namely that it is harder for teachers to recover when they need it the most. In a quantitative longitudinal study, 80 teachers participated and stated their exhaustion level, their affective rumination, relaxation experiences and sleep quality at two measurement points within one and a half years. A cross-lagged panel analysis showed that the reversed model, in which exhaustion predicted the recovery indicators, had a significantly better fit to the data compared to the autoregressive model. Exhaustion was positively related to affective rumination and negatively related to sleep quality. This study exceeds prior research by testing the recovery paradox phenomenon using a longitudinal design and offering implications for teachers’ health and recovery.

Authors

• Gerald Marc Weiher, Goethe University Frankfurt
  Presenting Author

• Yasemin Z. Varol, Goethe University Frankfurt
  Presenting Author

• Holger Horz, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
  Non-Presenting Author