Even though there is significant scholarly work on the problem of workplace mistreatment/abuse, there is no empirical or conceptual work on the school principal mistreatment/abuse problem. Based on a larger qualitative study of school principals’ mistreatment/abuse of teachers and the subsequent destructive effects on them, this study is the first empirical study focusing on types of principal behavior that teachers define as abusive or mistreatment, that is behaviors teachers experienced as seriously harmful when repeated over the long run. The research sample consisted of 50 female and male teachers from rural, suburban, and urban school locations. Teachers participating included elementary, middle/junior high, and high school. An open-ended format was used to examine the broad question of how do teachers experience significant long-term mistreatment/abuse by school principals. Study results suggest that less aggressive and less abusive principal behaviors were often accompanied by more aggressive and more abusive behaviors. Through simple association, less abusive behaviors could ignite strong emotional responses in teachers. Consequently, any abusive behavior by a school principal at any time had the potential to precipitate seriously adverse effects on teachers. In addition, other factors, such as location or timing account, in part, for the degree of harm teachers experience from principal mistreatment. References