Unveiling emotional strain: The interplay of loneliness, stress, and depression among school leaders

ÖZYILDIRIM G., Gläser-Zikuda M.

Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1177/17411432261438258
  • Dergi Adı: Educational Management Administration and Leadership
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: school administrators, work-related stress, Workplace depression, workplace loneliness
  • Akdeniz Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This embedded mixed-methods study contributes to the emerging leadership literature by examining how school leaders’ emotions interact and influence one another. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we explored the interplay among different emotional strains experienced by school leaders in Antalya, Türkiye (N = 342). We proposed that both emotional job demands (e.g., workplace loneliness) and strain (e.g., work-related stress) are key antecedents of a health impairment outcome (e.g., workplace depression). Additionally, we hypothesized that workplace loneliness would be associated with work-related stress. The findings from our structural equation model provide significant empirical support for JD-R processes in the context of school leadership, and interviews with school administrators corroborated our quantitative results. This study reinforces the JD-R model by demonstrating that emotional job demand can trigger other work-related strains and mental health impairment, which may eventually affect broader organizational well-being.