| The following question was considered by this study: Are there significant relationships between criterion variables of perceived levels of stress as a result of task-based, role-based, conflict-mediating, and boundary-spanning job responsibilities among elementary school principals and predictor variables of age, gender, education level, total years of administrative experience, and size of school enrollment?; The sample for this study included 250 elementary principals practicing in Region II public school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The survey instrument used in this study, Administrative Stress Index (ASI), was developed and validated by Gmelch and Swent in 1977. This survey contained 40 typical job responsibilities pertaining to school administrators. Responses were categorized as perceived levels of stress derived from task-based, role-based, conflict-mediating, and boundary-spanning job responsibilities of elementary principals. Along with this survey, a data response sheet was sent to each participant to gather demographic data. The writer did one mailing to 250 potential participants and received 195 responses, representing an 80% rate of return.; A between-subjects MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) was used to analyze nine variables. Findings of this study indicated that the hypothesis should be accepted as there was a significant relationship between criterion and predictor variables. Data on the combined four criterion stress factors representing results from 195 elementary principals showed that the highest mean (2.84) was generated for the task-based stress factor and a significantly lowest mean (2.10) was generated for the role-based stress factor. An overall mean of 2.35 represented the average for the participating group's stress level. Wilks' Lambda analyses revealed that a combination of four criterion variables produced a .341 significant Wilks' Lambda value and that the predictor variable of administrative experience was significant at a .000 alpha level. Pairwise Comparisons identified means from the predictor variable of age (A3) as having significant value in all four stress factor constraints.; In addition, levels of stress attributed to working with special needs students and working within legal guidelines were considered high. Finally, elementary principals in this study perceived stress encountered in measuring student performance through the use of standardized tests to be very high. |
