Abstract:

Work-stimulated stress has emerged as a pervasive global issue that needs to be investigated by specialists around the world. Work-stimulated stress is a condition of pressure brought on by one's occupation and it occurs when the demands of the job outpace the worker's abilities or resources. This study was therefore carried out to investigate the effects of demographic characteristics on work-stimulated stress among early childhood educators using structural equation modelling. The demographic variables considered in the study were teachers’ age, gender, experience, educational qualification, location, marital status, income and religion. The sample comprised three hundred and fifty (350) early childhood educators across six (6) states in Nigeria. The study adopted an ex-post-facto research design. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select the early childhood educators for the study. One validated instrument developed by the researchers on work-stimulated stress and associated demographic variables was used to collect data for the study. The reliability index of the instrument using Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.83. Data collected for the study were analysed using the Coefficient of determination (R2) to answer the research questions that guided the study. At the same time, path analysis and multiple regression analysis were employed in hypotheses testing. The findings of this study showed that age, marital status, gender and religion predicted work-stimulated stress among early childhood educators more than the other variables. Conclusions were drawn and it was recommended among others that employers of labour should take into cognizance the demographic variables as it influences work-stimulated stress. The implications of these findings for education policymakers, administrators and teachers are discussed.

Keywords:

Demographic characteristics, Early Childhood, Early childhood Educations, Stress, Structural Equation Modelling.