Stress and Personality of College Teachers

Teaching is a complex profession. Depending on the type of college or university, teachers may have many responsibilities such as fulfilling teaching and research requirements at research colleges and universities. Personality characteristics of an individual to a large extent are responsible for appraising a situation as stressful. Several studies have clearly indicated that certain personality types are stress prone. Though personality traits are fairly constant in an adult, awareness of one's stress level and the personality type can help the individual consciously mobilize coping strategies and manage the stress well. Present study was conducted to examine relationship between stress and personality of college teachers. Data were collected from 300 college teachers in six institutions. The results of correlation showed that the stress levels and personality types of the sample are independent of each other. It could be inferred that, for the present sample of college teachers, the personality types are fairly stable, not depending on their stress levels. This supports the fact that personality traits are more enduring, independent of the situational stressors.