Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to identify which of eight coping processes were used by highly effective principals when dealing with a stressful situation, when compared to those who were not identified as highly effective. A second purpose of this study was to determine if a significant difference existed between the coping strategies selected by highly effective principals compared to those principals who were not identified as being highly effective. A third purpose was to determine if a significant difference existed between the coping strategies used by highly effective male and female principals and by male and female principals who were not selected as being highly effective. Methodology. The population for this study was elementary school principals who were identified by their district's superintendents as being highly effective and those who were not selected as being highly effective based on a random sampling. Findings. It was found that both highly effective principals and those not identified as highly effective generally employ the same coping processes when dealing with a stressful situation. Of the highly effective principals who participated in the study the research revealed that the three primary coping processes used when dealing with stressful situations (1) planful problem solving, (2) self-controlling, and (3) seeking social support. For the principals not identified as highly effective, this study found that they used three primary coping processes when dealing with stressful situations: (1) self-controlling, (2) planful problem solving, and (3) seeking social support. There was a significant difference between the male and female principals who were not identified as being effective and the coping process employed, which was that of seeking social support. Conclusions. All principals at the elementary school level experience high degrees of stress related to their job as principal. Principals, both highly effective and those from the random sample not identified as highly effective, use the same primary coping processes of when dealing with stressful situations in their role as principal. Recommendations. The following are recommendations for further study: (1) further research should be done using large urban districts, which focus on the eight coping strategies and compare the results with rural or suburban districts; (2) replicate the study and include the Administrative Stress Index in order to compare the stress level to the coping processes used; and (3) conduct case studies of highly effective principals and use the eight coping processes as variables.