The role of stress resilience in the professional development of working teachers pursuing education in adulthood

<jats:p>&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Context and relevance.&lt;/strong&gt; In the context of the lifelong learning paradigm, the number of adults combining professional activity with study is increasing. Due to their high professional workload, teachers represent a particularly vulnerable group, for whom combining work and study creates the risk of chronic stress, professional burnout, and deterioration of physiological health indicators. &lt;strong&gt;Objective.&lt;/strong&gt; To identify stress resilience characteristics in the professional development of teachers combining work and study in adulthood and compare their psychophysiological indicators with those of other professionals. &lt;strong&gt;Hypothesis.&lt;/strong&gt; It is assumed that teachers who continue their education will demonstrate higher indicators of stress resilience as a professional characteristic. However, this will be associated with more pronounced negative psychophysiological indicators, in particular, accelerated biological aging, compared to representatives of other types of intellectual work. &lt;strong&gt;Methods and Materials.&lt;/strong&gt; 63 individuals combining work and study for a master's degree were divided into a group of teachers (n = 39, average age = 33) and a group of representatives of other intellectual professions (n = 24, average age = 37,6). A set of diagnostic methods was used: assessment of biological age (V.P. Voitenko), psychological age (K.A. Abulkhanova, T.N. Berezina), stress resistance (K. Schreiner, T. Holmes and R. Rahe), neuropsychic stability (&amp;ldquo;Forecast&amp;rdquo;) and mental performance (E. Kraepelin). For statistical analysis, Student's t-test and Spearman's correlation analysis were used. &lt;strong&gt;Results.&lt;/strong&gt; Teachers combining professional and academic activities were found to have an elevated index of biological aging (BA-IBA = 7,1), indicating pronounced accelerated aging of the body. A correlation analysis in their group revealed significant associations: the higher the biological age, the lower the stress resilience scores and the higher the neuropsychic instability scores. &lt;strong&gt;Conclusions.&lt;/strong&gt; The hypothesis that teachers experience a significant negative psychophysiological &amp;ldquo;cost&amp;rdquo; for combining professional and academic activities was confirmed: a higher biological aging index indicates accelerated aging, which leads to a deterioration in body function. Furthermore, the identified correlation between biological age and stress resilience specifically in the teaching group points to the existence of an internal mechanism of resource depletion: advanced biological aging is a key factor gradually reducing a teacher's adaptive potential.&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p>