A Comparative Study of Occupational Stress Dimensions Among Male and Female Technical Teachers

Abstract

The present study examined gender differences in occupational stress dimensions among technical teachers in Jalgaon District, Maharashtra (India). The objective was to compare male and female technical teachers across nine dimensions of occupational stress: workload, role ambiguity, groupism and external pressure, responsibility, powerlessness, work relationships, working conditions, personal inadequacy, and lack of motivation. A purposive sample of 100 full-time technical teachers (50 males and 50 females) with a minimum of one year of teaching experience was selected from technical colleges in the district. Occupational stress was measured using the Teacher’s Occupational Stress Scale (TOSS; Sharma & Kaur, 2018), a 30-item instrument with reported internal consistency (α = .801). Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) were computed, and independent-samples t tests were applied to test gender differences for each stress dimension. Results indicated that female teachers reported significantly higher stress than male teachers on workload, t(98) = 5.68, role ambiguity, t(98) = 2.19, responsibility, t(98) = 2.99, powerlessness, t(98) = 6.27, and lack of motivation, t(98) = 3.84 (all p < .05). In contrast, male teachers scored significantly higher on groupism and external pressure, t(98) = 2.89 (p < .01). No significant gender differences were observed for work relationships, working conditions, or personal inadequacy. The findings suggest that occupational stress among technical teachers is multidimensional and varies by gender, indicating a need for targeted institutional strategies such as workload rationalization, role clarification, supportive leadership, and participative decision-making to reduce stress and promote teacher well-being.