Teaching is profession with a high risk of burnout (Schaufeli, Leiter, & Maslach, 2008). The principal risks factors for teachers come from job demands to face with students' learning difficulties, aggressive behaviour, ambiguity and conflict amongst colleagues, problematic relationships with parents, time pressures and large classes (Chan, 2003). School-related events require teachers' ability to control their emotional intensity at all times, treat pupils with warmth and compassion and suppress any feelings of impatience or anger (Beatty, 2000). Recently Chang (2013) examined teachers’ unpleasant emotions elicited by appraisal of students' misbehavior and observed that the intensity of negative emotions increased teachers' emotional exhaustion. Therefore, teachers' effort to maintain negative emotions at low level without risks for their educational role likely affects their general well-being. Teachers' social support was remarkably considered a protective factor able to safeguard them from burnout risk and increase the school quality of life (Leung & Lee, 2006; Pomaki, DeLongis, Frey, Short, & Woehrle, 2010; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). Recently, Doudin and Curchod (2008) have found that the satisfaction with support received was a buffer against burnout independently on internal or external school support received. More specifically finding showed a positive correlation between dissatisfaction with social support received and teachers' emotional exhaustion.

The current research focused on the risk and protective factors on burnout syndrome taking into account the role of cultural context. According to cross-cultural studies teachers burnout syndrome depends onuniversal and culture-specific variables(e.g. Clunies-Ross, Little, & Kienhuis, 2008; Hastings & Bham, 2003).Although several studies was addressed to teachers’ burnout in different cultures, many investigated only one culture while very few studies examined burnout cross-culturally. The purpose of this current study was attempted to explore the importance of a cross-cultural perspective. We hypothesized that emotional intensity anddissatisfaction with social support affected teachers later burnoutsyndrome. Additionally, we expected to find the same predictive model for all measures of burnout in Italian and Swiss teachers groups.

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