1.1. CONCEPT, MEANING AND DEFINITION OF STRESS Stress is a term heard to often that its meaning is frequently distorted and its implications are taken for granted. In today’s world, everybody, radio and newspapers. Stress is an universal feature of life and no one can live without experiencing some degree of stress. On may assume that only serious or intensive physical or mental injury can cause stress. This is not true ; in fact ; traveling in a crowded bus / train or even sheer joy is enough civilization, human organism is subjected to stressful events ; and it is self-evident that birth itself is stressful like other biological milestones such as crawling and walking. Infants also experience stress although independent of their own action in which aversive or defensive coping behaviour (such as crying) are likely result. For the pre-school child, environment plays an important role in experiencing stressful events. Stressful experience may exert different effects at different events. Stressful experience may exert different effects at different ages. Almost any unanticipated happening or an anticipated events, with full of threat, causes the speeding-up of bodily processes. Any kind of excitement is also a stress, in the physiologist’s sense of interpretation. The term ‘stress’ means
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1.1. CONCEPT, MEANING AND DEFINITION OF STRESS
Stress is a term heard to often that its meaning is frequently distorted and its
implications are taken for granted. In today’s world, everybody, radio and
newspapers. Stress is an universal feature of life and no one can live without
experiencing some degree of stress. On may assume that only serious or intensive
physical or mental injury can cause stress. This is not true ; in fact ; traveling in a
crowded bus / train or even sheer joy is enough civilization, human organism is
subjected to stressful events ; and it is self-evident that birth itself is stressful like
other biological milestones such as crawling and walking. Infants also experience
stress although independent of their own action in which aversive or defensive
coping behaviour (such as crying) are likely result. For the pre-school child,
environment plays an important role in experiencing stressful events. Stressful
experience may exert different effects at different events. Stressful experience
may exert different effects at different ages. Almost any unanticipated happening
or an anticipated events, with full of threat, causes the speeding-up of bodily
processes. Any kind of excitement is also a stress, in the physiologist’s sense of
interpretation. The term ‘stress’ means different things to different people ; and
the laymen and professional alike are familiar with it.
The term ‘stress’ has been derived from technical sciences where it
indicates an excessive and detrimental overloading of objects. Metals like steel
have a certain strain capacity, but on exceeding certain values a rupture or fracture
occurs. The term was used in this sense in the nineteenth concept appeared in
medical sciences to indicate overloading of the human body. Cannon (1935)
related it to homeostatic tendencies in the body. He contributed much to the
relation between stress and the development of somatic disorders like
cardiovascular diseases. Selye (1956) believed that if sympathetic nervous system
and endocrine system are activated in a certain way, for example, by extreme
coldness or great excitement an individual can be said to be under stress. Extreme
stimulations of a divergent nature bring about a certain typical endocrine reaction
pattern. Specific stimulations are not connected with specific reactions : Selye
was not particularly interested in the causes (stimuli) ; more importance to him was
to universal reaction pattern (General Adaptation Syndrome or GAS) occurring in
characteristics phases.
Although stress reaction depends on what an individual considers dangerous
or threatening, people very greatly in general vulnerability to stress. If a person is
marginally adjusted, the slightest frustration or pressure may be highly stressful.
Lack of external supports – either personal or material – makes a given stress more
severe and weakens an individual’s capacity to cope with it.
Generally, the determinants of stress include :
a) personality characteristics
b) role overload
c) role conflict
d) role ambiguity
e) role stagnation and mid-life crisis
f) absence of social support and
g) role incompatibility
In a study of managerial stress experiences, Shukla (1990) has concluded
that it may be more accurate to look at stress as a pattern of inter-related
experiences rather than as one single experience. The stress due to lack of freedom
at work is as the experience of stress due to an inter-personal encounter. He has
also conceded that pattern of stressful experiences appears to be unique to an
individual, or a group of individuals and it may be determined by the life-situations
of the individual(s), as well as their personality.
Every human being has his own understanding of stress, because all
demands of adaptability do evoke the stress phenomenon. Selye (1974) beautifully
summarized the nature of stress in the following words :
“Everybody knows what stress is and yet nobody knows what it is”.
The term ‘stress’ has been used in so many different contexts that there is
confusion regarding the exact meaning of the term. Few definitions of stress are
given below ; and they are useful according to scope and clarity.
“Stress is any condition and disturbs normal functioning”. (Arnold, 1960)
“Stress is a non-specific response of the body to any demand” (Selye, 1974)
“Stress refers to physiological, behavioural and cognitive response to events
appraised as threatening or exceeding one’s coping responses and options”.
Stress is the state of an organism where he perceives that his well-being is
endangered and that he must divert all his energies to its protection” (Coffer
and Appley, 1964)
“Stress is a dynamic state within an organism in response to a demand for
adaptation”. (Wolff, 1968)
“Stress is a stimulus or situation to whih man reacts with learned coping
mechanisms activated by homeostasis principle and fuelled by energies
which are in finite supply.” (Caplan, 1964, Marshal and Cooper, 1979)
Perhaps, no construct in psycho-social research has been more difficult to
define that stress. Therefore, there is clearly no satisfactory definition of stress
which encompasses the social, psychological and biological issues as they pertain
to individual. Stress is multi faceted in nature and stress respnse arousal involves
every set of organs and tissues in our body. Thoughts and feelings are clearly inter
wined with these physiological processes.
1.2. STRESSES IN LIFE
When we consider work stress in particular, research indicates six major
sources of pressures (Cartwright and Cooper, 1997). These are as follows :
Factors intrinsic to the job : When a person’s role to poor working
conditions, shift work, long hours, travel, risk and danger, poor technology,
work under load and overload.
Role in the Organization : When a person’s role in a organization is
clearly defined, stress can be kept to a minimum. Whereas Cartwright and
Cooper mention only three aspects, Pareek (1993) has provided a fairly
comprehensive list of stresses commonly encountered with reference to
one’s role in the organization.
Relationships at work : As early as in 1946, Selye has pointed out that
‘good relationships between members of a group are a key factor in
individual and organizational health’. There are three critical interpersonal
relationship at work relationship with one’s boss, those with one’s
subordinates, and those with one’s colleagues.
Career development factor : Includes the degree of job security, fear of
job loss, obsolescence of one’s skills and capabilities and retirement. For
many workers, career progression is of overriding importance. Performance
appraisals (actual or even the fear of potential appraisal) can be an
extremely stressful experience.
Organizational structure and climate : Non-participation at work and a
general lack of control in the organization are related to a variety of stress
related symptoms.
Non-work pressures : Include pressures on the home front due to job
stress. Another commonly seen effect is that due to dual careers, especially
for women. The dual career family model may be a source of stress for men
a swell. The amount of time they are able to devote to their jobs, the degree
of mobility they have, the acceptance of transfers change if the wife is also
working.
On the basis of this description, the causes of stress may be summarized as
follows :
Sources at Home
Daily hassles of life
Major life stresses
Stress and the life cycle (adolescence, adulthood, old age)
Relocation (due to man-made projects, natural calamities, bereavement of spouse,
retirement, old age)
Sources of Work
Daily hassles at work
Organizational role stress
Interpersonal relationships stress
Career development associated stress
Stress due to the organizational culture and climate
Since no individual is totally relegated to the home or the work sphere, the
various sources interact with each other. This produces a third source of stress.
Sources from the Home-Job Interface
Intrapsychic pressures due to the peculiar personality of the person, for
example, excessive anger, depression proneness, Type A authoritarian attitudes,
irrational thinking Dual career stress in the husband, the wife and children.
Transfers and relocation due to jobs
Stress associated with non-traditional families, e.g., single parent, divorce,
separation.
1.3. STRESS EXPERIENCED BY SCHOOL STUDENT
Student-life coincides with adolescence, and stress can manifest in children
as a reaction to the changes in life in addition to academic pressures. Children
become more self aware and self-conscious, and their thinking becomes more
critical and complex. At the same time, children often lack in academic motivation
and performance, as their attention is divided among a lot many things, especially
creating and identity for themselves.
Stress is created by parental pressure to perform and to stand out among
other children. When they cant rise up to the expectation, or during the
process of meeting it, children my suffer from frustration, physical stress,
aggression, undesirable complexes, and depression.
Students who are under-performers, develop negative traits such as shyness,
unfriendliness, jealousy, and may retreat into their own world to become
loners.
Over scheduling a student’s like can put them under stress. A child’s in
school and after school activities should be carefully arranged to give them
some breathing space. Parents may want him to learn music, painting or be
outstanding in a particular sport. So many things are crammed in to their
schedule, unmindful (often) of the children’s choices and capabilities that it
puts a lot of mental pressure on them in an effort to fulfill their parents
wishes.
School systems cram students with a tremendous amount of homework,
which they usually have to complete spending their evenings, weekends and
most of the vacations. Unable to find enough time of their own, students
often lose interest in studies and under perform. They often feel stress by
being asked to do too much in too little a time.
When ‘effortless’ learning does not take place, these students lose
confidence, motivation and interest, and this creates more stress.
Another major student stressor is perhaps the middle school malaises, which
refers to the physio-psychological transition of students from elementary to junior
high school. Researchers at the University of Michigan have studied this transition
from elementary to middle school and have found that :
On average, children’s grades drop dramatically during the first year of
middle school compared to their grades to their grades in elementary
school.
After moving to junior high school, children become less interested in
school and less self-assured about their abilities.
Compared to elementary schools, middle schools are more controlling, less
cognitively challenging and focus more on competition and comparing
student’s abilities.
CHAPTER – II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.0. Introduction
2.1. Need for Related Studies
2.2. Classification of the Studies
2.2.1. Studies Conducted in India
2.2.2. Studies Conducted in Abroad
2.3. Analogy of the study
CHAPTER – II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.0. Introduction
This chapter presents a review of studies related to the present investigation.
This chapter includes four sections. The first section deals with the need for the
study. In the second section, the studies conducted in India are presented briefly.
The third section explains briefly, the studies conducted in the related area abroad.
The fourth section covers the synthesis of the related studies.
2.1. Need for Related Studies
A review of related literature pertaining to the problem on the investigation
is a fundamental importance of the research. Every investigator must know what
source are available in his field of enquiry, which of them, the investigator is likely
to use and where and how to use them.
According to Best (1977) “A brief summary of previous research and the
writings of recognized experts provide evidence and research is familiar with what
is already known and with what is still unknown and untested. This step helps to
eliminate the duplication of what has been done and provides useful hypothesis
and helpful suggestions for significant investigation”.
for any worthwhile study in any field of knowledge the researcher needs an
adequate familiarity with the literary and its many resources ; Only there will
achievement of an effective search for specialized knowledge possible. Though a
time consuming process, review of related literature is a very fruitful process for
research programme.
2.2. Classification of the Students
The investigator reviewed 23 studies related to the present one and two
classifications, the first one deals with 12 studies identified on self and other
Psychological variables among Head Mistress / Head Mistresses and teachers in
primary school. The second one reports the 11 studies conducted abroad on stress.
2.2.1. Studies Conducted in India
The investigator identified 12 studies conducted in India on stress and other
psychological variables. As the investigator did not find more studies exactly on
stress, the investigator has taken the studies consisted on other psychological
variables like anxiety, emotion, attitude etc. Among not only he heads of the
institutions but also the teachers of different standards.
The study was conduced in simulation as well as in read classroom
situations using a non-equivalent control group design for both the pilot and the
final phases. The sample consisted of 30 (10 for pilot and 20 for final study) male
student-teachers of the B.Ed., class offering English as one of their teaching
subjects from teacher-education departments of two affiliated colleges of
Gorakhpur University, and 250 (50 for pilot and 200 for final study) students of
class VII of three practicing schools of those two teacher education departments
situated in rural areas. The tools of study were a self-made achievement test of
English language comprehension, the Baroda General Teaching competency scale,
observation schedules and evaluation pro-from as for each skill, and an audio-type
recorder. Child-square and t-test were the main statistical techniques used for
testing the hypotheses.
The major findings of the study were :
1. Student teacher treated with the technique of skill-based microteaching
were found to be more effective in General Teaching Competency then
those trained in the traditional method of teaching English.
2. Microteaching technique had proved itself to be a more effective teacher
training technique than the traditional method when subjected to factorial
analysis of variances.
3. Each of the five skills depicted significant improvement in the case of
microteaching when compared on the basis of the data of post teaching
sessions of both the methods under study.
4. The analysis of data demonstrated significantly higher effectiveness of
microteaching technique in the academic achievement of students in real
classroom settings.
Khan 91987) made a comparative study of Personality Characteristics of
Physical Education Teachers and General Education Teachers.
The purpose of the study was to evaluate and compare the personality
characteristics of physical education teachers and general education teachers in the
following areas : (i) home adjustment, (ii) health adjustment (iii) social adjustment
(iv) emotional adjustment (v) occupational adjustment (vi) general adjustment (vii)
neuroticism (vii) medical fitness and (ix) motor fitness.
The sample for the study consisted of 300 randomly chosen teachers from
selected districts of Jammu and Kashmir State. Out of these 300 teachers, 150
belonged to physical education and 150 to general education category.
The findings were
1. On the whole physical education teachers were found significantly better
adjusted, socially, emotionally, occupationally and also with respect to
health as well as home adjustment than the general educational teacher.
2. The neurotic tendency among the general education teachers was
significantly more predominant than among physical education teachers.
3. More than 50 percent of the physical education teachers failed to maintain
even normal physical fitness.
A study of meaning in Life, Stress and Burnout in Teachers of Secondary
Schools in Calcutta was conducted by Misra 91986).
The objectives of the inquiry were
1. To study if teachers varied in the degree of overall meaning in life and if
they showed a trend toward low or high meaning.
2. To identify important sources of meaning in the personal and professional
life of teachers and to investigate if teachers varied in the degree of meaning
derived from these sources.
3. To find out the relationship, if any, among the different measures of
meaning in life.
4. To identify the main sources of stress in teaching and to investigate if
teachers varied in the extent to experienced Stress.
5. To study if teachers varied in the extent of perceived burnout, and
6. To study the relationship between stress and burnout, meaning in life and
stress and meaning in life and burnout in teachers.
The tools used for data collection were moholick’s (1969) purpose in Life
Test, Maslach and jackson’s (1981) Inventory for study of Burnout, and a scale
and interview schedules prepared by the investigator for measurement of stress and
other background variables. The sample comprised 345 teacher training
institutions of the study. Descriptive and non-parametric statistical techniques
were used for analysis of data.
The findings of the study were
1. Meaningfulness of life of the teachers was quite high according to their own
perception.
2. Meaning in professional life was derived primarily from psychic rewards
obtained from task-related outcomes and relationships with students.
3. All the measures of meaning in life, namely, self-reported meaning in life,
sources of meaning in life, and sources of meaning in teaching had a
positive relationship with meaning of life.
4. The relationship between stress studied through test and stress reported by
teachers was highly significant.
5. Age difference was significant with regard to stress of teachers
6. The sample teachers had a lower degree of burnout.
7. Sex difference was significant on the burnout variable
8. Stress was positively related to burnout with regard to emotional exhaustion
of depersonalization
9. There was a negative relationship between meaning in life and stress and
stress variables measured by tests as well as self-reporting items.
10. A comparatively low level of meaning in life was identified among the
sample teachers.
Mistry (1985) conducted a study on need achievement, job satisfaction, job
involvement as a function of role Stress locus of control and participation in
Academic climate. A study of college and secondary teachers. The investigation
was an attempt to fill some of the gaps in the existing field of knowledge regarding
job satisfaction, job involvement and n-achievement as outcome variables of locus
of control, motivational climate, participation in academic climate and various
types of role stresses the teaching population faced.
In the study, six different research tools were employed to collect the data
the satisfaction – dissatisfaction Employer’s Inventory developed and standardized
by pestonjee, used to assess job satisfaction ; the social relation inventory
developed by Rotter and adapted by Hasan, used to assess the internality
externality dimensions of personality, a “Your feelings about your role” scale
developed by Pareek, used to measure the extent of role stress, a Motivational
analysis of organizations (MAO) questionnaire developed by Parreek, used to
asses organizational academic climate, a Psychological participation Index
developed and standardized pestionjee, used to assess the extent of psychological
participation and General inventory prepared for the study to gather general
information about age, tenure, socio-economic condition etc., and information
pertaining the job. Two hundred and two subjects were selected from colleges and
secondary schools of Ahmedabad. Multiple regression analysis was carried out to
estimate the contribution of various independent variables to three dependent
variables job satisfaction.
Major findings were
1. No significant relationships were observed between locus of control and
various dimensions of job satisfactions.
2. The climate of academic motivation was found to be significantly
associated with such dimensions as job satisfaction, involvement as well as
overall satisfaction.
3. The climate of control was found to be negatively correctively with on the
job aspect of job satisfaction and with total job satisfaction.
4. The climate of dependency has no effect on various aspects of job
satisfaction and job involvement.
5. Job involvement was found, to be significantly and positively related with
difference job satisfaction.
6. Self-role distance was found to be significantly but negatively correlated