Stress and the principalship: a comparative study of elementary and secondary principals in Virginia public schools

• Main Author: Cusack, Jacqueline L.
• Other Authors: Educational Administration
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 2017
• Subjects: LD5655.V856 1982.C872; Elementary school principals > Virginia; High school principals > Virginia; Job stress
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/77770

Principals today are faced with more pressure, more change, and more conflict than ever before (Gmelch, 1978). The principal is, by the nature of the job setting and the circumstances which surround it, particularly vulnerable to stress (Landes, 1978). The purpose of this study was to measure, analyze, and compare the degree of stress perceived by public elementary and secondary school principals in Virginia as being related to selected job events. It was hypothesized that: (1) There would be no difference between elementary and secondary principals on the degree of perceived stress; (2) There would be no difference between the various categories of selected demographic variables on the degree of perceived stress; and (3) There would be no interaction between levels of the principalship and the selected demographic variables on the degree of perceived stress. A series of two-way Analysis of Variance procedures were used to test the hypotheses. Data for the study was obtained from 350 elementary and 267 secondary principals in Virginia using the Principals' Stress Inventory (Conley and Hinkle, 1979). It consisted of 39 administrative events which were categorized by the researcher into five sub-scales: (1) Administrative Constraints; (2) Administrative Responsibilities; (3) Interpersonal Relations; (4) Intrapersonal Conflict; and (5) Role Expectations (Swent, 1978). The following conclusions were made based upon the findings: (1) The principalship was more stressful for secondary principals than elementary principals relative to Scales 1 through 4; (2) The demographic variables, race, age, and length of experience in education influenced the degree of stress perceived by principals. It was found that the white, youngest, and least experienced principals in education perceived greater stress relative to Scale 3; (3) The variable, percentage of white student enrollment in school, also influenced the degree of perceived stress. Principals of schools with high percentages of white students enrolled had a low degree of perceived stress relative to Scales 1 and 4; and (4) Events associated with Scale 2 were more stressful for elementary principals with low percentages of white students enrolled in school than for secondary principals with comparable enrollment. === Ed. D.