Prevalence of exhaustion symptoms and associations with school level, length of work experience and gender: a nationwide cross-sectional study of Swedish principals

Table 1 Demographic characteristics. Distribution of mean age scores and associated standard deviations (SD), and the proportion of men and women across categories (N = 2219)

	Age (years)		Total (N = 2219)		^cWomen (n = 1724)		^cMen (n = 491)		Chi-square test
	Mean	SD	%	N	%	N	%	N	P-value
^dAccess to social support if needed									< 0.001
Yes, a lot	49.5	7.3	43.4	962	46.3_a	798	33.0_b	162
Yes, quite a bit	49.5	7.5	34.5	766	34.1_a	588	36.0_a	177
Yes, to some extent	48.4	7.4	16.5	367	15.0_a	259	21.8_b	107
No	49.7	7.1	5.6	124	4.6_a	79	9.2_b	45
Co-habitant status									0.015
Yes	49.2	7.3	84.9	1885	83.8_a	1444	89.0_b	437
Living apart	50.1	8.0	11.3	251	12.3_a	212	7.9_b	39
No	49.7	7.7	3.7	83	3.9_a	68	3.1_a	15
Job title									0.098
^ePrincipal	49.7	7.3	77.8	1726	78.2	1348	76.4	375
Assistant principal	47.6	7.6	18.0	399	17.2	297	20.6	101
^fOther	49.4	7.9	4.2	94	4.6	79	3.1	15
School level									< 0.001
Pre-school	49.9	7.2	27.9	619	34.7_a	598	4.1_b	20
Pre-school and compulsory school	50.5	7.7	5.0	111	5.4_a	93	3.7_a	18
Compulsory school	49.0	7.2	44.4	986	41.6_a	718	54.2_b	266
Upper secondary school	48.6	7.7	15.4	342	12.1_a	209	27.1_b	133
Adult education	49.5	8.4	7.3	161	6.1_a	106	11.0_b	54
^gStress/pressure reported to be unrelated to work									0.874
Yes, a lot	49.3	7.9	9.2	204	9.3	161	8.8	43
Yes, quite a bit	49.4	7.5	15.7	349	15.5	267	16.5	81
Yes, to some extent	48.8	7.1	34.5	765	34.2	590	35.2	173
No	49.7	7.4	40.6	901	41.0	706	39.5	194
^hRegion of origin									0.051
Stockholm	49.9	7.6	20.0	444	21.1	364	16.3	80
Västra Götaland	48.5	7.5	14.1	313	13.5	232	16.1	79
Skåne	49.2	7.4	17.2	381	17.5	301	16.1	79
Sweden (other)	49.3	7.3	48.7	1080	47.9	826	51.5	253
ⁱYears of work experience as a principal									< 0.001
0 < 3 years	45.6	7.1	19.5	432	20.7_a	357	14.7_b	72
3 < 5 years	47.0	6.5	22.5	500	23.3_a	402	20.0_a	98
5 to 10 years	49.2	6.7	33.9	753	33.9_a	585	34.0_a	167
> 10 years	54.7	6.3	24.1	534	22.0_a	380	31.4_b	154

a and b values in the same row and subtable not sharing the same subscript (a or b) are significantly different at p < 0.05 in the two-tailed test of equality for column proportions (Bonferroni adjusted)
^cFour individuals did not disclose their gender
^dThe question read - “Do you have access to social support if you need it in your private life?”
^eThis category includes the job titles pre-school director (n = 556) as well as principal and pre-school director (n = 68), which from July 1st 2019 has been retitled to principal
^fThe designation ‘other’ refers to school leaders whose formal title was not ‘Principal’ or ‘Assistant Principal’, who, however, described a combination of responsibilities and duties that was judged to conform with the formal titles of ‘Principal’ or ‘Assistant Principal
^gThe question read - “Have you during the last year experienced stress and/or pressure caused by factors that are unrelated to your work?”
^hOne individual disclosed no region
ⁱThe outermost categories (i.e., < 1 year, and > 20 years) have been merged with adjacent categories

ISSN: 1471-2458