THE CAUSES OF STRESS AND ITS COPING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY WORKING WOMEN IN SOUTHERN PART OF TIRUPUR CITY – A STUDY
Abstract
Women today are encountering a demanding and hastening lifestyle. Taking care of the needs of her home along with the office work makes 24 hours insufficient for a working woman. She has to balance both the requirements and make herself readily available in both the places. The study focuses on the causes of stress and its coping strategies adopted by working women in southern part of Tirupur city. Objectives of the study were to identify the factors at work and home that cause stress, health issues faced by the respondents and the coping strategies of stress adopted by the working women in southern part of Tirupur city. Incidental purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the respondents. 80 questionnaires were distributed among married working women including teachers, shop in charges, bank clerks, beauticians, etc. out of which 54 completely filled in questionnaires were received. Simple percentage and weighted average methods were used for analysis. Results revealed that most of the women took up their job as they had a passion towards it. The women also agreed that it was also due to financial difficulties and the help their spouse required to lead a respectable economical life. They were stressed as they had to work extra time with heavy workloads and that they had no good relationship with their peers. They did not have support for house hold chores without a maid and had to take care all by themselves. They got exhausted mentally and physically leading to health issues like body pain, back ache, head ache, digestion disorders and for some it was even menstrual problems. The respondents felt relaxed while talking to friends, listening to music, relaxing and so on.
KEYWORDS: mental and physical stress, problems at work place, problems at home, stress coping strategies,
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