The teacher's profession is regarded to be susceptible to professional burnout. Its early markers include high neuroticism and tendency to depressive reactions. The aim of the study was to assess the depression intensity and the occurrence of mood disorders in the population of full-time and extramural course students of pedagogy aged 19-30, as well as the difference in intensity of the measured constructs between men and women.
Material and methods: The study was carried out on the group of 223 women and 162 men aged 19-30 studying pedagogy at Piotrków Trybunalski Division of Jan Kochanowski Memorial University in Kielce in the years 2008-2011. The control group consisted of 76 women and 88 men studying economics. Students of full-time and extramural courses were included. All the participants were assessed with Beck Depression Inventory. Depression as a syndrome was diagnosed if the score of 10 of more was obtained.
Results: Among female students of pedagogy, 21 out of 223 obtained Beck Depression Inventory scores equal to, or above 10; whereas among female students of economics 1 out of 76 obtained such a result. The relative risk of developing depression (understood as Beck Depression Inventory result of 10 or more) was found to be significantly higher among female pedagogues (OR 7.797; CI 1.0306 to 58.9856) than among female economists. Among male pedagogy students, 2 out of 162 obtained 10 points, or more. It means that the risk of depression in female pedagogues was as much as over eight-fold higher than in male pedagogues (OR 8.3168; CI 1.9215 - 35.9979). The risk of depression in men studying pedagogy was not higher than in men studying economics, who obtained the Beck Depression Inventory scores of 10 or more in 1 case out of 88 (OR 1.1; CI 0.0983 to 12.3032). Considering all pedagogues irrespectively of gender versus all economists, the risk of depression in the group of pedagogues is over five-fold higher than among economists (OR 5.1464; CI 1.1991 to 22.0885). In the whole group of women, irrespectively of the study profile, the risk of Beck Depression Inventory result equal to, or exceeding was six-fold higher than among men (OR 6.5391; CI 1.9336 to 22.1144). There was no statistically significant correlation between the Beck Depression Inventory scores obtained in the studied group and the subjects' ages. The mean scores obtained in the particular groups are presented in table. The Beck Depression Inventory scores obtained by women studying pedagogy was found to differ with statistical significance from the scores obtained by male pedagogy students (p = 0.001925), female economics students (p = 0.015781) and female economics students (p = 0.000611). The mean intensity of depression in men studying pedagogy did not differ from the mean intensity of depression in women studying economics (p = 0.94128) and in men studying economics (p = 0.330382). No differences in the mean Beck Depression Inventory scores of female and male students of economics were noted, either (p = 0.444554). The mean intensity of depression in women representing both fields of study was 6.094 +/- 3.13, vs 4.97 +/- 2.45 in men; the difference was statistically significant at the significance level of p = 0.00005. The mean intensity of depression in pedagogy students of both sexes was 5.92 +/- 3.024 vs 4.79 +/- 2.39 in students of economics; the difference was statistically significant at the significance level of p = 0,000026.
Conclusions: Women studying pedagogy demonstrate higher depression intensity than men studying pedagogy, as well as male and female students of economics. Students of pedagogy demonstrate higher depression intensity than students of economics. On the overall, women in the whole studied population have higher depression intensity than men; however, no such gender-related differences were observed among students of economics.