Sources of stress in academe - the Israeli case

The effects of stress on the physical and psychological well being of people in different professions and occupations have become, in the last decade, the focal interest of researchers and clinicians. There is a growing body of evidence that stress, adversely affects the performance, productivity, job satisfaction, health and the general quality of life of professionals and people in general (Farber, 1983; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Originally, research on stress focused on the “helping professions” and “human services” occupations (Cherniss, 1980; Farber, 1983). More recently, other occupations which involve continuous, intensive interpersonal relationships between people, have been investigated and were found to be a potential source of stress (Holt, 1982). The growing interest in the study of stress and its manifestations resulted among others in newly defined concepts such as: burnout, tedium, wear and tear, deadwoods, midlife crisis, etc. (Maslach and Jackson, 1979; Manuso, 1979; Freudenberger, 1980; Pines, Aronson and Kafry, 1981; Farber, 1983).