Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the stress levels and coping strategies of professional students belonging to Physical Education and Engineering professions. A sample of 60 subjects was randomly selected from the Physical Education and Engineering Institute, India. Each profession group had 30 subjects (15 boys and 15 girls) with age range of 21±3 years. Stress scores due to: 1) frustration and inhibition, 2) overload and 3) compulsive, time-urgent and aggressive behavior were measured for the selected subjects using the questionnaire developed by Daniel et al. (1979). The second questionnaire developed by George and Everly and used by Heyward (1991) was also administered to the students to measure their coping strategy. Data were analyzed using SPSS 17 version. Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that stress due to all the stimuli was significantly higher among girls in comparison to boys of their profession. Coping strategy was higher in boys than girls of their respective profession, but Physical Education girls had higher coping strategy than boys and girls of Engineering. Therefore, it can be concluded that Physical Education students had better coping strategy than engineering students.

Key words: Frustration and inhibition, overload, time-urgent and aggressive behavior coping strategy.