“OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AMONG THE COLLEGE TEACHERS - WITH

REFERENCE TO KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT”

Objectives of the Study

1. To study the level and occurrence of occupational stress among the college teachers
working in kanyakumari district.
2. To analyze the reasons of occupational stress that affects the working life of college
teachers.
3. To analyze the impact of stress due to occupation of the college teachers in
Kanyakumari District.
4. To evolve the measures to minimize the occupational stress level among the
college teachers. !
5. To present suggestions to minimize the occupational stress and for improving their
quality of life.
 Review of literature
(minimum 25 as per the format I already given to you )

Julieta Remedios Betonio (2015) in her study aimed to settle on the level of stress the
college faculty experienced in terms of Work related, Peer related, Family related, Schools’
Policies related and Management Practices associated stresses. It also looked into the level
of effectiveness of the faculty in their teaching performance in terms of Classroom
Management, Communication skills, Facilitating Students learning, evaluation of Teacher
Student association etc. The respondents of the study were the full-time college faculty
who were teaching at La Salle University in 2012- 2013. It is a descriptive research study
and the data were gathered with a standardized questionnaire. The data gathered were
analyzed, and interpreted through Weighted Mean and Rank. Results of the study showed
that the sense experienced moderate level of stress in the areas of Economic related stress,
Schools’ Policies and Management Practices stresses and experienced low level of stress
with Work and gaze related stresses. Most of the faculty expressed that they experienced
very low level of stress with Family. The overall rating of the effectiveness of presentation
of the faculty in all parameters were very satisfactory which means there is still room for
improvement to make it an outstanding assessment in the future

Naina Sabherwal at el (2015) attempted their study with the taken as a whole purpose of
understanding the phenomenon of stress among faculty and to find out how they battle
stress operatively and strategically in higher educational institutions. A questionnaire was
used to collect data from 200 faculty members of different higher educational institutions
in Pune. The sample was in use by adopting the stratified random sampling method among
the institutions of management, engineering, law, science and other faculties. The sample
included all teaching positions: assistants, assistant professors, associate professors, and
professors. Seventy six per cent of respondents were women. The respondents’ responses
were measured by the subsequent Stressors: workload, conditions at work, and
relationships with colleagues at work, work with students, work Institutions, and social
recognition and position. The results showed that the determinants of stress among the
administrators were many and varied, with compilation of results, time pressures, lack of
infrastructure, student’s indiscipline and poor pay prediction as very high ranked stressors.
The findings also revealed that the administrators experienced, on an average a low to
moderate level of stress and this did not negatively affect their presentation. This research
benefited to faculty in coping with work related stress.
Mariya Aftab and Tahira Khatoon (2015) in their study examined the relationships of a set
of self-governing variables (gender, qualification, teaching experience, salary, subjects
taught and marital status) with occupational stress among secondary school teachers. The
population in this study consisted of 608 teachers from 42 schools of Uttar Pradesh in
India. The Teachers Occupational Stress Scale was used for data collection, while t-test
and F-test were used for statistical psychoanalysis. According to the results of the analysis,
nearly half of the secondary school teachers experienced less stress towards their job and
males displayed more occupational stress towards job than the females. Moreover, the
taught graduate teachers were found to have higher occupational stress than post-graduate
and untrained teachers. Teachers with an experience of 6-10 years faced occupational
stress the most, and 0-5 years the least; while folks falling in the remaining two groups
sided in between these two. Findings revealed no significant difference among monthly
salary, subjects taught, marital status and occupational stress of secondary school teachers.

Sindhu K. P (2014) in her study on work stressors among college teachers, conducted a
random study on 200 (100 each of male and female) degree college teachers of Kerala
State. Questionnaire was worn for data collection. Frequency distribution percentages and
chi-square test were used for analysis. From the analysis, it was obvious that a majority of
teachers experienced stress in their work.

Krupa A. Vyas (2014) in his study has focused on the stress causes among working
women of urban area school teachers. A sample of 200 working school teachers as of urban
areas participated in this study. Out of this, 100 each are from private and Constituency
schools respectively. A non-experimental, cross-sectional survey was conducted using
demographic information form. The inventory used was based on 5 point scale. Using
correlation and regression analysis, the result showed that there were significant
differences in stress level between female teachers working in Constituency and private
schools. The measurement of stress level of occupational stress among working female
teachers indicated the crash and occurrence of justification of job duties. The result could
be applied for further research on working married women, especially concerning the
impact and occurrence of job stress on student’s mental health. These results could be
additional applied to the studies concerning with mental health among the working women.
Senthil Kumar at el (2013) in their study set out to investigate various causes of work stress
amongst 478 engineering faculty members of 58 self-financing engineering and technology
colleges and four deemed universities in the Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu. The
objectives of the study were to find out the significant diversity and association among
demographic and job profile variables of engineering teachers on causes of stress.
ANOVA, ‘t’ test and Chi-square test were used to analyze the data. The results showed a
major association among gender, type of institution, location of the college, current
working status and average number of working hours with causes of stress.

Sindhu K.P (2013) in her study on factors influencing stress and coping strategies
conducted random sample study on 200 (100 each of male and female) degree college
teachers of Kerala State. Questionnaire for demographic characteristics and coping
strategies were worn along with Employment Institutions Sources of Stressors scale.
Frequency, percentage, t-test, correlation and step wise regression were used for analysis.
The factors that caused stress always were mostly due to the interference of the
Institutional responsibilities with their family Institutional role, lack of their involvement in
decision making that abridged their responsibilities and the participatory model in their
Institutional set up which enhanced their responsibilities to the point of tiredness. Majority
of the teachers revealed that stress was basically due to their laziness and also they were
happy with fewer responsibilities.

Rajarajeswar S (2013) in his study has made an effort to analyze the work stress among the
faculty in educational institutions. The result shows that there are significant Institutional
work stress factors influencing the stress in the midst of the faculty. The significantly
influencing stress factors are teaching, examination and administrative work.

Nisha V.V (2013) in her study helped to travel around the occupational stress of private
sector and Constituency sector bank employees in Thrissur district. For this rationale, 50
employees from the private sector banks and 50 from the Constituency sector banks were
chosen and questionnaire technique was used to collected adequate data. The study
concluded that the crisis of stress is predictable and unavoidable in the banking sector and
the study was helpful to draw policy changes in the banking sector.
Aqeel Ahmad Khan et.al (2012) in their study was aimed at to determine the role of locus
of control in mediating or coping on various degree/levels of stress among the college or
university teachers of Bahawalpur. For that reason a sample of N=200 male or female
college or university teachers was selected by suitable sampling. Research tools, Locus of
control and Stress questionnaire by International Stress Management Association UK,
(2009) were administered for data collection. After the collection of data, it was analyzed
by SPSS. The results show that the teachers identified with inner locus of control reveal
low level of stress in contrast to the teachers with outer locus of control. The study also
confirms that high internal locus of control determines high coping and mediating skill of
stress among the teachers. The study also pointed out that the teachers with external locus
of control were more lying face down to stress. Furthermore, Pearson and Spearman’s
Correlation results at significant level of .000 show that both variables are highly
correlated. Similarly, overall Mean of locus of control and Coefficient of variation reveals
the high steadiness role in relation with stress.

Kayalvizhi S and Chokkanathan K (2011) in their study evocative have collected through a
self designed questionnaire administered to the lecturers with less than five years of
experience who were working in self financing arts colleges situated in Salem, Tamil
Nadu. Data were collected from September 2010 to November 2010. The nature of the
study gave the researcher no choice other than the convenience sampling method. 876
lecturers accepted to inclusive the questionnaire of which only 570 was usable. Five point
Likert scaling was used to determine the job satisfaction level of the respondents. Chi-
square was used for comparing the observed and expected frequencies and Cronbach alpha
to check the interior reliability co-efficient of the 14 item scales determining the level of
job satisfaction. The study results clearly indicate that the lecturers employed in arts
colleges situated in Salem are highly dissatisfied with their jobs. The factors which are
intrinsic to the job and motivated them were recognition, work itself, possibility of growth
and the extrinsic factor that acted as a major dissatisfying factor was poor compensation
and benefits offered by the Institutions. The study suggests ways to improve the level of
job satisfaction of the lecturers employed in self financing colleges of Tamil Nadu.
Jayashree Nayak (2008) in her study has affirmed that stress affects the efficiency of the
individual. So it is necessary to provide appropriate environment and support to each to
maintain individual stress. The study has shown that there are variations in the experience
of stress associated to work, role, personal development, interpersonal relation and
Institutional ambiance by the male and female degree college teachers. Therefore, there is
the need for effectual management of the stressors by making use of different management
strategies by providing effective guidance and counseling.

Koteswari and Allam (2005) conducted a study on job stress among managers in various
organisations. The study examined the job stress levels of managers working in different
Institutions. It also found out the effect of age and span of service on job stress. The results
revealed that most of the managers experienced high level of jobstress. Younger managers
with squat experience faced more job stress. This study indicated that length of service had
no effect on stress experienced.

Dollard, M. (2001) in her study made an overview of present research on work related
stress. She identifies a assortment of theoretical approaches which seek to explain work-
related stress - in terms of stimulus- reply combinations, sociological or psychological
paradigms, or emphasis on factors in the environment or in the individual as the source of
stress. Dollard (ibid.) examines in element two psychological theories of work-related
stress, interactional and transactional approaches. Interactional models highlight the work
environment and an individual’s interactions with it as the source of stress: Transactional
theories, in contrast, focus on the belief and feelings of the individual in response to their
interaction with their atmosphere, and the meanings they ascribe to what happens; they
emphasize the importance of the individual’s coping resources.

Biswas and De (1993) studied role of Institutional ambiance on professional stress

experienced by 34 male teachers working in an open climate and 34 male teachers working
in an affectionate climate. The data analysis revealed that teachers working in an unfasten
climate experienced less composite professional stress, powerlessness and social isolation
than the teachers working in a balmy climate. It was also found that the teachers in an open
climate had less negative orientation and affection towards poles apart aspects of their job
and professional lives.

Thakaran (1992) hypothesized that professional women and non professional working
women will differ in their job related stress and echelon of job satisfaction. A sample of 90
technocrats working women (doctors, engineers and lawyers) were compared with 90 non-
technocrat working women (clerks, officers and teachers) on these variables. The
operational stress gauge (OSI) developed by Cooper (1980) was administered to measure
occupational stress and job satisfaction. The findings revealed that the liaison between
occupational stress and job satisfaction originate to be significantly associated with the
professional qualifications of the women. Professional working women experienced better
work related stress than the non-professional ones.

Pestonjee D. M. and Pareek Udai (1992) investigated occupational stress in academic and
non-academic staff working at the University of New England in Australia. One of the
aims of the mission was to determine the relationship between occupational stress and non
work stress and physical health, emotional health and job satisfaction. More than 1,000
staff members of the university, responded by completing the questionnaires. Overall,
approximately, 25 percent of staff experienced low job stress, 60 percent experienced
medium job stress and 15 percent of staff experienced high job stress. Analysis showed
that males experienced higher workload stress than females and females reported more
stress due to work politics than males. In general, younger staff reported more occupational
stress than older staff. Younger staff reported more stress due to job significance, work
politics and work conditions than older staff; older staff however reported more stress due
to work burden and university Institutions than younger staff. In general lower level staffs
were more stressed than those employed at higher levels. The relationship between stress,
health and job satisfaction variables was also determined. Results revealed that both high
job stress and high non work stress were associated with job dissatisfaction, high
psychological distress, high negative effect, high anxiety, and more lack from work, more
visits to doctors, poor physical health and higher incidence of illness. Generally, the
relationship between stress and emotional health measures was stronger than the
relationship between stress and physical health measures. By and hefty, the relationship
between job stress and health measures was maintained even after controlling the result of
non-work stress.

Jamuna and Ushasree (1990) carried out another study to examine burnout amid teachers
working in private and Constituency schools in Tirupati. 120 women teachers in the age
groups of 30-40 and 40-50 years mutually from private and Constituency schools (N=60
each) were included for the study. The teacher’s burnout range was used to assess burnout.
The results indicated that women in lower age group exhibited a higher measure of
burnout. A significant difference was observed flanked by private and Constituency school
teachers related to career satisfaction, perceived administrative sustain and coping with job
related stress.

Fernandes and Murthy (1989) carried out a study on job-related stress and burnout in
middle and secondary school teachers. The study was undertaken to explore the prevalence
of stress and burnout in teachers teaching in Bangalore city schools. It was hypothesized
that stress experienced on the job would be a cause burnout and that higher age group and
married teachers would be more vulnerable to burnout. A sample of 50 female middle and
secondary school teachers was drawn from seven schools of Bangalore east region. There
were 41 married, 9 single teachers belonging to the age group of 22-59 years and class II of
the socio economic status. It was found that 76 percent of the total sample faced stress on
the job though the measure of stress experienced differed. The stressors included pupil
misbehavior, time pressures, poor working conditions and poor school nation. Coefficients
of correlation between stress and burnout revealed that stress was significantly correlated
with poignant exhaustion.

Fimian Michael J. and Blanton Linda. P. (1987) conducted a study on stress, burnout and
role problems in the midst of teacher trainees and first year teachers in North Carolina,
USA. The mock-up totaled to 413 pre-professional trainees and first year special education
teachers. The results showed that the first year teachers and the trainees’ experienced
smaller number stress factors than did the teachers with more experience. Professional
misery and personal stressors combined with discipline and motivation to form classroom
stress. The low energy component was combined with emotional manifestations. It was
also apparent that burnout and task problems evidenced by less experienced teachers and
trainees were almost alike to those reported by additional experienced teachers. Those
trainees and inexperienced teachers who encountered role problems to the greatest
coverage were also the teachers under the most stress, most often beneath stress and were
at greatest risk of burnout. A number of studies have also been carried out on stress amid
teachers in India. A few of these studies have been included in this appraisal..
 “OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AMONG THE COLLEGE TEACHERS -
WITH REFERENCE TO KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT”
Questionnaire
1. Personal Data
Name :
Gender : Male Female
Age :
Marital Status : Married Unmarried
Educational Qualification : PG with NET/SET PG with M.Phil Ph. D
Type of Family
: NuclearJoint
Size of Family
:
Status of Employment
: Assistant Professor / Associate Professor /
Professor
Annual Income :
Mode of Traveling : Two wheeler Four wheeler
Arranged by the College
2. Factors determing the level of Stress in Colleges
Please indicate a tick mark in the appropriate box
S.No Factors SA A N D SD
2.1 In the past couple of years whether the work place stress
increased?
2.2 Has the quality of your work deteriorated because of stress?
2.3 Does your job satisfaction declined because of work place
stress?
2.4 Has your job description changed in the past two years?
2.5 Do you feel the changes of work increased your stress?
2.6 Do you need continuous break time for your
coffee breaks?
2.7 Dose your work place allow you to do yoga?
2.8 Whether any preventive measure taken to reduce stress
in your work place?
2.9 Do you have a joint health and safety committee?
2.10 Does your committee meet regularly?
 3. Factors contributing to Stress

Stress is a mental, emotional or physical reaction resulting from an

individual’s response to environmental pressure and similar stimuli; it refers to
pressure that people feel in life.

Official Factors Contributing to Stress

S.No Factors SA A N D SD
1 Trying to schedule more work in less time
2 Pay not being proportionate to the work done
3 Having fun at work
4 Bias as regards age, caste or religion
5 Absence of job security
6 No enough time for daily work causes stress
7 Lack of growth in performance in work place
8 Too much of work pressure from superior
9 Picking up quarrel with co-workers
10 Lack of consistency in attendance
11 Distance factor contributes to getting late to office
12 Feel guilty when your work is re-assigned to others
13 Not being able to make the edges meet
14 Lack of superior qualification to combat stress
15 Lack of intellectual challenge
16 Rigid nature of superior causes stress
17 Fixation of target/causes stress
18 Ambitionary nature in making decision causes stress

Individual Factors Contributing to Stress

S.No Factors SA A N D SD
1. Suffering with insomnia
2. Feeling frustrated at work
3. Concern for personal safety and career prospects
4. Bad habits
5. Incapability to anticipate the future demands and requirements
6. Diversification of work attention
7. Lack of good moral support from friends and relatives
Family Factors Contributing to Stress
S.No Factors SA A N D SD
1. Work back at home causing worries
2. Not able to spend time with children’ and spouse
3. Family pressure to perform well for higher remuneration
4. Office work affects the work at home and causes stress
5. College teaching creates unhappy with family
6. Lack of moral support from spouse
7. College work affects to other personal and homework

4. Ways to Overcome Stress

Education industry has become one of the fastest growing industries in

India. In another side, the stress has built up fully in the arts and Science College,
due to same personal and organizations causes, Stress is controllable. So the
following factors will help us, how to minimize the stress in Arts and Science
Colleges.

Official Factors which can reduce to Stress

S.No Factors SA A N D SD
1. Paid incentives for high performance
2. Availing entertainment services in the work place
3. Need better Superior & Subordinates Relationships
4. Need better inter-personal relationships
5. Unbiased equation of employees performance
6. Maintaining equality and equity in distribution of work load
7. Worker participation in allotment of work load, and
other policies taken by the company

Personal Factors that will reduce stress

S.No Factors SA A N D SD
1. Practice of Meditation/Yoga
2. Books, Music & Sports etc., act as a relieving factor
3. Get-together parties
4. Joining a gym, dance, games etc
5. Relaxation by means of visiting memorable places
6. Spending time at peaceful places
7. Relaxation by means of spending time with parents
and family Members
Once again I thank you for spending your valuable time and response

******