Impact of Problem Focused Coping Strategy on Female Principals Stress Management

Abstract

The stress facing the educational leadership as school principals are required to deal with administrative management, supervision of staff, academic performance and institutional development. There are specific issues that may affect female principals in addition to the other factors listed above: Interpersonal demands, competing professional demands, and work–life balance. Problem-Focused Coping Strategies (PFCS) may be a way to cope with stress by identifying the sources of stress, planning and problem solving, prioritizing and making positive decisions. The present study investigated the correlation between PFCS and Stress Management (SM) of female school principals. The method of quantitative research was employed and data was gathered from 74 principals (females). Analysis of the correlation showed a weak negative correlation between PFCS and SM (r = -.117). The regression model accounted for about 1.4% of the variability in SM (R² = .014). The overall regression model was not significant (F (1,72) = 1.005, p = .319). The regression coefficient for PFCS was also negative and not significantly different from 0 (B = -.254, β = -.117, p = .319). The results of this study suggest that there was no statistically significant predictive relationship found between the female principals who participated in the study and PFCS and SM. The results do not show that problem-focused coping is not effective, however; it does imply that it may be insufficient to account for variations in stress management in this sample. The results indicate that there is a need to explore further individual and organizational factors, such as workload, institutional support, leadership experience, resources, and work–life balance. More research is needed using larger samples, measuring instruments that have been established and validated, and using longitudinal or intervention designs to investigate the role of problem-focused coping in stress management. Other professional development programs that could be beneficial for educational authorities include those related to problem solving, time management, delegation, and conflict resolution. The research brings insights from the sphere of stress amongst female educational leaders to the discussion and provides some insights for future research directions.