Occupational Stress Health and the Mediating Role of Work Life Balance A Study on Public University Teachers in Jharkhand

Abstract

newlineThe objective of the thesis is to analyze the relationship between occupational stress, work-life balance, physical health, and mental health of the public university teachers in Jharkhand. The primary aim of the study is to investigate the impact of occupational stress on work-life balance, physical health and mental health. The secondary aim of the study is to explore the mediating role of work-life balance between occupational stress, physical health, and mental health of public university teachers in Jharkhand. Quantitative data collected from 414 university teachers and subjected to Descriptive Statistics, Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling. Principal Axis Factoring and Varimax with Kaiser Rotation resulted in ten latent variables and thereafter CFA is conducted to validate the multivariate relationship between occupational stress, work-life balance, physical health and mental health. Occupational stress is found to have a significant negative impact on work-life balance, physical health and mental health whereas work-life balance has a significant positive impact on physical health and mental health. Further mediation analysis reveals that the direct and indirect effects of occupational stress through work-life balance have a statistically significant impact on both physical health and mental health. Therefore, it is inferred that work- life balance partially mediates the causal relationship between occupational stress, physical health, and mental health. The study significantly contributes to establishing work-life balance as a strong mediating construct thereby encouraging future research on the mediating role of work-life balance. The study is unique as very few studies have focused on the mediating role of work-life balance between occupational stress and health. The findings may help in developing and implementing policies by the policymakers to address newlinethe root cause of occupational stress within university settings and find ways to