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Gallup Poll show teachers score higher in well-being

Posted By Melissa

I reported earlier in an article on examiner.com that the original results of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found business owners ranked the highest in well-being until Gallup decided to ask a follow up question.  According to Lopez and Agrawal in their December 23, 2009 report entitled, Teachers Score Higher Than Other Professionals in Well-Being, at www.gallup.com, teachers are usually included in the "professional worker" category, but a new category was created from other professionals when Gallup asked "are you currently a teacher in a public or private school (at any level, secondary, elementary, college, pre-school)?

The data collected between July 2008 and June 2009 found that teachers bumped out business owners by either scoring the highest, or tying for the top spot among all 12 job types in how they viewed their overall well-being. 

The areas included how they evaluated their lives, whether they felt they had access to resources needed to live a healthy life, emotional health, and their likelihood to engage in healthy behaviors.  As Lopez and Agrawal noted, the results shed light on a variety of benefits and drawbacks to the teaching profession. 

Let’s look at the first area below:

1.  Teachers view life with more optimism

This was determined by The Life Evaluation Index, which is based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Scale, where people were asked to rank their present and future lives on a scale of 0 – 10.  According to their scores, teachers were at the top of the list.

The Cantril Self-Anchoring Scale (Cantril, 1965) , developed by pioneering social researcher Dr. Hadley Cantril, consists of the following:

Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top.

The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you.

On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time? (ladder-present)

On which step do you think you will stand about five years from now? (ladder-future)

The results of the Gallup poll showed teachers to have higher rates of optimism.  I have been pondering this and have several thoughts on possibilities of where this comes from:

Teacher pay is usually based on a scale that increases with time of service and training  The amount they earn is usually increasing and 5 years can make a lot of difference.

As teachers we have a sense of renewal as each year progresses, giving us a great sense of hope for the possibilities.

Personal and professional growth and development are integral parts of a teachers life.  There are always new things to learn, new ways to do things, and chances for things to improve.

Our sense of purpose and desire to affect the lives of our students keeps us a bit "outside" of our selves.

What do you see as your reasons for optimism?  How would you rate where you are now and in 5 years?  Please comment below.

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