Teachers’ attachment, sickness absence and presenteeism. Association between teachers’ attachment and sickness absence and presenteeism in elementary schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find the association between teachers’ adult attachment styles and employee sickness absence and presenteeism. Research data was collected via an online questionnaire. The SPSS program was used. The research was conducted in elementary schools and 779 Slovenian teachers were included. In order to measure teachers’ attachment, we used the ECR-RT and an insecure attachment was found in the sample. We did not find any correlations between sickness absence and presenteeism and the attachment among participants. A methodological tool for the Slovenian setting has been developed and can be used to measure attachment with an add-on for the measurement of sickness absence and presenteeism. The research assignment presents results of our investigation into the connection between teachers’ attachment and sickness absence and presenteeism, and at the same time calls for similar research to be done in other countries.

Keywords

• sickness absence
• presenteeism
• teachers
• adult attachment