A STUDY OF STRESS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPALS IN TENNESSEE: THE SOURCES, SYMPTOMS, PREVALENCE, AND COPING APPROACHES

The purpose of the study was to investigate stress among high school principals in Tennessee in regard to sources, symptoms, prevalence, and coping methods used to manage stress. All 338 high school principals in Tennessee were surveyed, and a response rate of 71 percent was achieved. The study examined and tested seven hypotheses. Chi-Square Analysis and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation coefficient (r) were performed. The first six hypotheses predicted there would be no significant differences at the.05 level in sources, symptoms, prevalence, and coping approaches of stress due to age, sex, number of years the principals had held their current position, size of student population, geographic location of the schools, or whether the school was a large city, small city, or rural school. The study found that age did affect symptoms of stress, but found no significant differences in the age groups for sources, prevalence, or coping approaches. The analysis revealed that there were no significant differences in sources, symptoms, and prevalence of stress between male and female respondents, but that females used coping methods significantly more than males. The study also found that the number of years in the principalship had no significant relationship to sources, symptoms, prevalence, or coping methods used. The size of student population had no significant effect on sources, symptoms, and coping approaches, but did affect prevalence of stress. Analysis showed that the location of schools significantly affected the coping methods, but had no significant relationship to sources, symptoms, and prevalence of stress. A significant difference in sources, symptoms, prevalence, and coping approaches of stress due to the type of school was not established, and this hypothesis failed to be rejected. The seventh hypothesis predicted that correlation coefficients calculated for all combinations of variables would not be significantly different from zero. The test of this hypothesis confirmed the findings of other hypotheses by establishing a relationship of age to symptoms, sex to coping approaches, and location of the school to coping approaches. Recommendations were made to provide seminars and workshops for training in areas of time management skills and stress management techniques. Recommendations were also made to provide reviews and counseling for principals to identify any stress problems that need attention. In addition, recommendations were made to conduct other similar studies to provide a greater insight into the stress problem