Sex Differences in Stress and Coping Strategies Among Teachers in MBALE Municipality

This study investigated the various paradigms of stress based on demographic variables and the attendant coping mechanisms employed by the secondary school teachers in Mbale Municipality. Descriptive survey research design was used, the total samples used for the study was 196. A well validated questionnaire was used to collect data from the teachers. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, means and standard deviations were used to analyse the data on the research questions. Inferential statistics of t-test for independent samples was also used to analyse the data at 0.05 level of significance. Specifically the result showed that male teachers have slightly high level of stress than female teachers which might be premised on various paradigms such as unstandardized class size, students' indiscipline and poor working environments with low salaries among secondary school teachers. However, the teachers cope with their stress using mechanisms such as critical analysis of problem for better appraisal, clubbing, watching Television, films and video, avoiding unnecessary thinking. Thus the following recommendations were made, teachers' salary should be increased to meet the demand of the teachers and should be paid promptly, incentives to be given to them, class size to be standardized, and counselling service should be stepped up in secondary schools in Mbale Municipality.