Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the differences among elementary principals in Orange County, California, regarding their sources of perceived stress considered in terms of gender and years of experience. A second purpose was to determine their added stressors when considered in terms of gender and years of experience. The final purpose was to determine the effects to which state and federal programs impacted their occupational stress in terms of gender and years of experience. Methodology. The principals were surveyed using the Administrative Stress Index (ASI), two open-ended questions, and personal data questions. Descriptive and ex-post facto research and parametric and nonparametric statistical techniques were used to answer twenty research questions. Findings. There is no significant difference between female and male principals' mean stress indexes in the categories of role-based stress, task-based stress, boundary-spanning stress, and conflict-mediating stress, nor in mean overall stress indexes. Female principals' standard deviations were lower than male principals' standard deviations in the above categories of stress as well as in their overall stress indexes. There are no significant differences among new, experienced, and veteran female and male elementary principals' mean stress indexes in the above categories of stress. Five additional stressor areas were agreed upon by both genders, regardless of years of experience: special education, staff relations, parent relations, funding and budget cuts, and federal, state, and local accountability measures. Five additional stressor areas resulting from state and federal programs were agreed upon by both genders, regardless of years of experience: the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR), Coordinated Compliance Review (CCR), English Language Development (ELD), special education, and the lack of funds to maintain these programs. Recommendations. This study and other current research have only begun to skim the surface of gender differences and the variations within them. Further study should be conducted to analyze factors related to the leadership of organizations under stress. The ongoing discussion of differences between women and men, how they perceive situations, and how they function within organizations is critical to continued understanding of the human psyche.