Teacher Victimization by Students, Their Parents, and School Staff: Prevalence and Links with Teachers’ Life Satisfaction in a Lithuanian Sample

Abstract

The links between different forms of teacher victimization and teachers’ life satisfaction are still under-researched. To highlight teacher victimization by various parties within the school environment and its associations with teachers’ life satisfaction, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Multidimensional Teacher Victimization Scale, and some additional measures were applied. The findings based on a Lithuanian sample (n = 1146) revealed that a significant portion of teachers have experienced victimization in various forms: 38.5% of teachers have been bullied by school staff, 33.9% have faced verbal victimization from students’ parents, and victimization by students affected 65.8% of teachers, with verbal and social victimization being the most common. An SEM analysis (χ2 = 355.787; Df = 33; CFI = 0.928; TLI = 0.902; NFI = 0.922; RMSEA = 0.092 [0.084–0.101]; SRMR = 0.0432) revealed that bullying by staff is not only detrimental in its own right but also relates positively to other forms of victimization, including verbal victimization by parents and multidimensional victimization by students, as teacher victimization by students and their parents mediated the relationship between teacher victimization by school staff and teacher life satisfaction. The findings suggest a complex problem within the school environment where different forms of victimization are interconnected and call for urgent attention and action from educational policymakers and school administrators to address and mitigate teacher victimization.