Validation of a 'spurning scale' for teachers: the Chinese sample

Effects of Spurned Help and Self-Image on Self-Defensive Behavior of Primary School Teachers

“…Spurning of help by peers. This variable was assessed by a 12-item measure developed by Cheuk et al (2002) with evidence for its reliability and validity. The participants rated the extent to which peer teachers spurned their help on a scale from (1) "applies very little to me" to (11) "applies very much to me" (e.g., "Peer teachers turned down my offers of help").…”

“…Subsequently, two avenues have been taken to assess the validity of the model, one being laboratory experimentation and the other being assessing whether professional caregivers react to spurning of their help in ways posited by the model. Regarding the second avenue, we have been assessing the validity of the propositions of the model through examining how spurned schoolteachers react to spurning of their help by peers and factors that influence their reactions, having examined those of secondary school teachers (Cheuk, Wong, & Rosen, 2002) and kindergarten teachers (Cheuk, Wong, & Rosen, 2011). Continuing this line of enquiry, the present study extended our work to the category of primary school teachers to examine, as posited by the model, whether spurned teachers would react self-defensively and whether their self-images of competence and caring influenced their reactions to being spurned.…”

“…A second avenue that has been taken to assess the validity of the model is to examine if professional caregivers react to spurning of their help in ways consistent with the propositions of the model. As such, we examined the extent to which secondary school teachers in Guangzhou (China) experienced spurning of help by peers and how they reacted (Cheuk et al, 2002). It was predicted that at a low level of spurning, the self-esteem of the teachers would not be threatened, but that at a high level of spurning, the teachers would be threatened and they would cope self-protectively.…”

“…The present study had three objectives. So far, we have examined the experiences with spurning of help by peers among kindergarten and secondary school teachers (Cheuk et al, 2002(Cheuk et al, , 2011 but not among primary school teachers. The first objective was to assess the extent of occurrence of spurning of help by peers among primary school teachers in a Chinese city.…”

“…Cheuk & Wong, 2007). Thus far, our studies of schoolteachers (Cheuk et al, 2002(Cheuk et al, , 2011 have focused on just one of such means of coping-viewing the rejecting peers as having negative personality attributes, doing so because this means of coping was adopted consistently by spurned helpers across our laboratory experiments. The present study would assess whether spurned Shenzhen primary school teachers would also adopt the other self-protective means of coping identified in our laboratory experiments.…”