The effects of war on teachers’ burnout: The moderating role of emotion regulation

Teachers are at high risk of experiencing job-related burnout, especially during times of enduring stress, such as wartime. Therefore, it is essential to understand risk and protective factors among teachers exposed to these stressful situations. The current study examined whether cognitive reappraisal, a well-established adaptive emotion regulation strategy, moderates the link between war exposure, war-related stress, and burnout among Israeli Jewish and Arab high school teachers during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023. We hypothesized that teachers who use cognitive reappraisal more frequently would exhibit weaker associations between war exposure, war-related stress, and burnout. A total of 329 high school teachers (73.6 % women, 26.4 % men) participated in an online survey conducted eight months after the war began. Participants completed measures assessing war exposure, war-related stress, habitual use of cognitive reappraisal, and burnout. Correlational analyses revealed that while war-related stress was associated with burnout, war exposure showed no direct correlation with burnout. Supporting our hypothesis, cognitive reappraisal was negatively associated with burnout. Moderation analyses revealed that cognitive reappraisal significantly moderated the link between war exposure and burnout, with simple slopes analyses indicating that the link between war exposure and burnout was weaker among teachers who reported a higher tendency to use cognitive reappraisal. A similar but not significant trend was observed for war-related stress. Findings suggest that cognitive reappraisal serves as a protective factor against teacher burnout during wartime and highlights the importance of promoting emotion regulation strategies to support teachers’ mental health and enhance resilience during major crises.