Developing causal model of occupational stress for English language teachers based on ambiguity tolerance and difficulty in emotion regulation: The mediating role of marital conflict

Occupational stress is an important risk factor for teachers’ mental health. The aim of this study was to develop a causal model of occupational stress in English language teachers based on ambiguity tolerance and difficulty in emotion regulation mediated by marital conflict. The research method was descriptive and structural. The population consisted of all English language teachers who were teaching in the academic year 2019–2020. 220 participants were selected by simple random sampling. Data collection instrument included Philip Al Rice’s Job Stress Questionnaire, McLain’s Ambiguity Tolerance Questionnaire, Gratz and Roemer’s Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and Sanayi’s Marital Conflict Questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using structural equation modeling and SPSS 23 and LISREL 8.8 software programs. According to the results, the causal model of the relationship between ambiguity tolerance, difficulty in emotion regulation, marital conflict and occupational stress of English language teachers was confirmed based on different fit indicators. Ambiguity tolerance, difficulty in emotion regulation, and marital conflict have a direct effect on the occupational stress in English language teachers; also, ambiguity tolerance and difficulty in emotion regulation through marital conflict have an indirect effect on the occupational stress in English language teachers (p < 0.05). Therefore, ambiguity tolerance, difficulty in emotion regulation, and marital conflict play such an important role in occupational stress in English language teachers that targeting these three components through psychological therapies can be effective in reducing the occupational stress in English language teachers.