A Study of Occupational Stress in Relation to Demographic Variables

In recent years, we have seen a rise in stress across all spheres of life, particularly in the work place. It is not surprising that we are seeing work place stress emerging as a major cause of physical and mental health problems. Stress is an individual's physical and mental reaction to environmental demands/pressures. Stress, in general and occupational stress, in particular is a fact of modern day life that seems to have been on the increase. Occupational (job, work, workplace) stress has become one of the most serious health issues in modern world (Lu.et.al,2003) as it occurs in any job and is even more present than decades ago. Occupational stress, in particular, is the inability to cope with the pressures in a job (Rees, 1997) because of poor fit between someone's abilities to his/her requirements and conditions. This investigation is an attempt to study the occupational stress in some of the demographic variables. A sample of 100primary school teachers was selected and The Occupational Stress Index (OSI) by A.K.Shrivastva was used for collecting data. The response rate was 80%. Data was analyzed by using statistical techniques like mean, SD and t-value. It was found that the teachers have moderate level of occupational stress. Male and female teachers did not differ in their levels of occupational stress. The teachers working in Govt. and Private schools were not found to differ in their level of occupational stress.