Methodology in the assessment of stress among air traffic control specialists (ATCS) : normative adult data for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory from non-ATCS populations.

PDFTech ReportFAA-AM-81-5DOT/FAA/AM-81/5Air traffic controllersWorkloadStress (Psychology)AnxietyDemographicsShiftsWork environmentQuestionnairesAgeGenderUnited StatesCivil Aerospace Medical InstituteHutto, Gary L.Smith, Roger C.Thackray, Richard I.Civil Aeromedical InstituteUnited States. Office of Aviation MedicineNTL-AVIATION-Air Traffic ControlUS Transportation CollectionSTAI scores of adult men and women within the age range of 25 through 59 years were generally equal to or slightly less than scores of the college undergraduate normative group. This suggests that the previous use of undergraduate norms to evaluate A-Trait and A-State scores of ATCSs did not underestimate the levels of work-related stress associated with their work. Smith's* conclusion that there is little evidence to support the notion that ATCSs are engaged in an unusually stressful occupation is not changed by the findings of this study.Although A-State scores increased from before work to after work in the subsample of FAA employees surveyed in the present study, neither the absolute levels of work stress nor the change in stress induced by work were noticeably different from those levels and changes reported by ATCSs who rated their work shifts as difficult. (*Smith, R.C. 'Stress, Anxiety, and the Air Traffic Control Specialist: Some Conclusions from a Decade of Research'. FAA Office of Aviation Medicine Report no. AM-80-14, 1980