A Different Understanding of Teacher Attrition: The Association of Body Image to Attrition

The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of body image and teachers’ intentions to leave the profession. The researcher collected data via an online survey from 193 teachers working in Texas schools in March 2024. Three items measured teachers’ demographics using dichotomous gender, dichotomous ethnicity, and nominal race. Four variables addressed teachers’ professional characteristics: nominal school level, nominal geographic indicator of school type, ratio years of service, and nominal highest educational attainment. Next, the five subscales of MBSRQ-AS were (a) Appearance Evaluation, (b) Appearance Orientation, (c) Overweight Preoccupation, (d) Self-Classified Weight, and (e) Body Areas Satisfaction. The Brief Resilience Scale measured teachers’ resilience. The Turnover Intention Scale–6 measured the dependent variable of teacher attrition. The assumptions for the correlation and regression tests were met, but multicollinearity occurred in the Pearson r coefficient between Appearance Evaluation and Body Areas Satisfaction (r = .822). Therefore, the Body Areas Satisfaction predictor variable was removed from further analysis to resolve the multicollinearity problem. It had lower reliability (Cronbach’s α = .826) than that Appearance Evaluation (Cronbach’s α = .889). The models indicated that the overall regression equation was associated with teachers’ attrition intentions. The variables with statistically significant contributions to the MLR were ethnicity (β = -.159, p = .021), Appearance Evaluation (β = -.196, p = .046), and BRS (β = -.212, p = .003). The statistically significant variables’ negative relationships with attrition intention suggested that teachers who were Hispanic/Latino had higher teacher attrition intentions, teachers with higher appearance evaluation scores had decreased attrition intentions, and teachers with higher resilience scores had lower attrition intentions. Therefore, the research hypothesis that positive body image related to teacher attrition was accepted. Schools could implement specific training and support systems to support teachers’ resilience and body image because healthier teachers could elicit healthier students. There is an opportunity for school districts to build body-positive, self-assured, and resilient teachers who positively impact their students.