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Sources of stress in academe: A national perspective

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Abstract

The purpose of the national faculty stress research project was to examine stress experienced by faculty in institutions of higher education. The study sample of 80 institutions was drawn from the population of all U. S. doctoral-granting institutions in the United States. One thousand twenty faculty were selected and stratified by academic rank and Biglan's academic discipline model. The response rate was 75.28 percent. In general, faculty reported 60 percent of the total stress in their lives came from work. The majority of the top 10 stressors related directly to time and/or resource constraints. When faculty stressors were compared across disciplinary groupings, more similarity than difference existed. Also, faculty reported similar degrees of stress associated with the teaching, research, and service functions, with teaching as the most stressful activity.

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Gmelch, W.H., Lovrich, N.P. & Wilke, P.K. Sources of stress in academe: A national perspective. Res High Educ 20, 477–490 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00974924

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