The Relationship between Emotional Labor and Mental Health of College Teachers: the Mediate Effect of Emotional Exhaustion

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between emotional labor and mental health and the mediate effect of emotional exhaustion. Emotional Labor Scale, Mental Health Scale and Emotional Exhaustion Scale for teachers are used to investigate a survey of 710 college teachers in Shandong province. The results show that college teacher is a profession required high level of emotional labor, the most frequently used strategy is automatic acting and then the deep acting. Surface acting positively correlates with emotional exhaustion and has negatively effect on the mental health. Deep acting and automatic acting negatively correlate with emotional exhaustion and have positive effect on mental health respectively. Emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between emotional labor and mental health. Emotional exhaustion fully mediates the relationship between surface acting and mental health and the relationship between automatic acting and mental health. Emotional exhaustion partially mediates the relationship between deep acting and mental health.