Dr. Gargi Sharma     Dr. Monika Sanger

The main aim of the present study was to examine if there was significant difference between working and non-working married women on time management, stress and self- efficacy. The sample was consisted of 150 married women (75 working married women and 75 non-working married women).Self- Efficacy scale (Sood), Stress Scale (Kaur, Kumar and Mehta) and Time Management scale (developed by investigator) were used to measure self-efficacy, stress and time management respectively. For analysis of the data t- test was used. Result showed that there was a difference between working and non-working married women regarding their time management, but there was no significant difference between working and non-working married women regarding self efficacy and stress.

 

Keywords: Time Management, Stress, Self Efficacy, Working Married Women, Non-Working Married Women.

 

INTRODUCTION

 

One of the most challenging aspects in life is time management. In the current fast changing environment, time management is very important in both personal and professional life. Keeping pace with today’s fast changing society and fast growing economy, not only the professionals are trying to be maximally efficient in their multifaceted roles, but also the organizations are highly emphasizing on being productive as well as effective. Being effective also means being constructive and using time positively. “Time” being the most finite and scarce resource, needs to be planned and managed. Managing ones time does not mean the quantity of time utilized but how well it is utilized.

Durbin(1997) refers to time management as process of structuring and organizing time to result in better productivity and also to ensure a high quality of living for individuals. Thus the key to time management is to gain control of one’s time a working smarter and not harder as ‘time management is more concerned with thinking than doing.

Time management is the art of arranging, organizing, scheduling, and budgeting one’s time for the purpose of generating more effective work and productivity. Good time management involves keeping a schedule of the tasks and activities that have been deemed important. Keeping a calendar or daily planner is helpful to stay on task, but self-discipline is also required. The most efficient to-do list in the world will not help someone who does not look at or follow his own daily planner.

A survey of the population of married Indian women indicates wide individual differences in the mental and physical capacities of married Indian women. These married women achieve different levels of education, social and economic status in their society as a result of their varying inherited potentialities and the varying opportunities that they receive since their birth.

Although nature has gifted varying levels of abilities and opportunities to different women, the time gifted to each individual women for a single day is the same i.e. 24 hours each woman tries to spend these limited 24 hours in such a way so as to have maximum satisfaction from life. It depends upon their needs and values how they spent their valuable yet limited time each day. Apart from the routine activities there are certain activities for which a particular set of women would definitely spare some time for example women with hedonistic values would spend time for entertainment activities and those with high spiritual values would spare some time for meditation, religious practice and charitable activities. The total time of 24 hours a day would therefore be classified into four categories in the time management scale

1)         Time spent on Routine Personal Activities

2)         Time spent on Family oriented activities

3)         Time spent on entertainment activities

4)         Time spent on spiritual activities.

 

Life is full of struggles against the obstacles, challenges and threats in our environment. Success is most often measured not in the defense of set points, but in our ability to adapt to such conditions, and the ease with which such adaptation occurs. Throughout history, people have lived in close relationship to nature in developing the special skills and traits necessary for their survival. Thus adaptation not stability is the essence of life, biological fitness and health.(Seley,1978)

Stress is unavoidable consequences of life; it afflicts people regardless of their life situation. Stress everywhere within the family, business, organization/enterprise and any other social or economic activity. Right from the time of birth to the last breathe drawn, an individual is invariably exposed to various stressful situation. The 21^st century is experiencing on era of rapid changes, complexities, challenges and pressures to survive than any other time. Stress is physiological, emotional and psychological reaction to certain threatening environmental events. It refers to the amount of a person’s psychological energy released, in response to a stimulus situation exceeding from what he can constructively use.

In modern life stress is a common problem. The negative effects of stress affect individual’s health and performance. As a result, individuals have their own stress perceptions and they develop different kinds of strategies in order to manage stressful situations. Culture is a relevant aspect that influences this process. Considering that stress is presented in different dimension of daily life, educational experiences can also be perceived as stressful. In addition, stress could be strongly experienced at work, and to be teacher is considered one of the most stressful jobs.

The concept of stress is first introduced in life science by Hens Selye in 1936.The word stress is derived from Latin word “stringerd”. Stress was popularly used in 17^th century to mean hardship, strain, adversity or offication.

According to Selye (1956), “Any external or any internal drive which threatens to upset the organism equilibrium is stress”.

Stress is a concept that, although it is familiar for all, is understood in different ways. The use of this term in a vague and general form creates this context of different interpretations that sometimes are contradictory (Rutter, 1983). In this context, authors attempt to categorize the different definitions of stress instead of creating a general definition. Seley (1976) recognized the common set of reactions occurring in response to wide variety of conditions resulting in producing a sequence of physiological changes in the body. This reaction from the General Adaptation Syndrome.

 It has three stages

• Alarm Reaction
• Stage of Resistance
• Stage of Exhaustion

The two topics of time management and stress management are often addressed together because they are so closely interrelated.

Stress could be strongly experienced at work (Fletcher, 1988; Fletcher, 1991; Warr, 2005), and there are jobs which are considered more stressful than others, for instance to be teachers(Carlyle and Woods, 2002; Kyriacou, 1998).

Self -efficacy is a self evaluation of whether a person feels they can accomplish a certain task or not (Karen Lewis, 2007). According to Bandura (1997), self-efficacy is people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance for assigned tasks. The outcome of this exercises influence over events that affect individual’s lives.

Self efficacy makes a difference in how people feel, think, and act. In terms of feeling, a low sense of self efficacy is associated with depression, anxiety, and helplessness. Such individuals also have low self-esteem and harbor pessimistic thoughts about their accomplishment and personal development. In terms of thinking, a strong sense of competence facilitates cognitive process and performance in a variety of settings, including quality of decision making and academic achievement. When it comes to preparing action, self- related cognitions are a major ingredient of the motivation process. Self- efficacy levels can enhance or impede motivation. People with high self- efficacy choose to perform more challenging tasks Bandura (1995). They set higher goals and stick to them. Such person invests more effort and persists longer than those who have low self- efficacy level. When setbacks occur, they recover more quickly and remain committed to their goals. They also have the ability to explore and to create new environment for them. Therefore, it refers to a global confidence in one’s coping ability in the wide range of demanding or novel situations. While general self efficacy refers to the stable sense of personal competence to deal effectively under the stressful and challenging circumstances (Schwarzer, et.al.2008).

Self -efficacy has been found to be intimately associated with capacity to change one’s situation and has been used as a predictor of behavior, usually job seeking behavior, (Wenzel, 1993). According to Flammer (2001), People with higher perceived self- efficacy to fulfill job functions consider a wide range of career options. The construct of self-efficacy, which was introduced by Bandura, represents one core aspect of his social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977, 1997). Valiante (2004) believes that efficacy contributes more heavily to occupational preferences. Perceived efficacy is a robust contributor to career development. Self-efficacy characterized by spiritual improvement creates a set-back and variations in the rate of progress. Perceived self-efficacy affects how well individuals manage requirements and challenges of occupational pursuits (Bandura, 2005). Bandura (1997) and Flammer (1990) found that individuals with high self-efficacy beliefs also report strong feelings of well-being and high self-esteem in general.

 

Problem

1. Is there any difference in the level of time management (family oriented activities, routine personal activities, entertainment activities and spiritual activities) between working and non-working married women?
2. Is there any difference in the level of stress among working and non-working married women?
3. Is there any difference in the level of self- efficacy among working and non-working married women?

Hypotheses

1. There is no significant difference in the level of time management (family oriented activities, routine personal activities, entertainment activities and spiritual activities) between working and non-working married women.
2. There is no significant difference in the level of stress among working and non- working married women.
3. There is no significant difference in the level of self- efficacy among working and non-working married women.

SAMPLE

The sample was consisted of 150 married women (75 working and 75 non-working married women) in Jaipur &Alwar were chosen, with the following criteria of inclusion and omission:

1. Equal numbers of women (75 working and 75 non- working) were chosen.
2. Only married women were taken.
3. All of them must be graduates.
4. They have middle socio- economic status.
5. They must have 21 to 45 years.

 

Tools

Time management was measured by time management scale. This scale was prepared by investigator herself.  The scale consists of 25 items. Stress was measured by stress scale. It was developed by Kaur, Kumar and Mehta It consists of 26 items. Self-efficacy was measured by Self- efficacy scale. It was developed by Sood. It consists of 10 items.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

 ‘t’ test was used to examine the significant difference in time management, stress and self-efficacy of working and non-working women .

 

 

Table-1clearly reveals that the mean score obtained from working women on time management was1288.3 and mean score obtained from non-working on time management was 1199.3. The difference between the two means was significant at .01 level. The higher mean score for time management was obtained by working women in comparison to non-working women

It is clear from the results that the working married women have more efficient in managing the time in comparison to non-working married women. There are many causes; working married women appear to have a personal value structure different from that of non-working married women; economic and political value are more prominent among working married women.

On the other side the result found by Myra, Strober and Charles, Weinberg, (2009) is that there appear to be limited differences between employed and nonemployee wives in their use of strategies to relieve time pressures.

 

Table-2clearly reveals that the mean score obtained from working women on stress was 53.05 and mean score obtained from non-working on stress was 51.25 The difference between the two means was not significant. The higher mean score for stress was obtained by working women in comparison to non-working women. Aujla and Harshpinder, (2006) found that the various financial and temporal factors causing stress among working and non-working women in India. Results indicated that expenses on sudden emergencies, more work and less time to do them were considered to be the stressors by women in both categories. Working women were stressed due to shortage of time for doing work, planning, sharing with family, leisure or social activities and personal health care. Non-working women were stressed due to unavoidable expenses, and irregular income. On average, non-working women were stressed due to financial factors and working women due to temporal factors. It is also consistent with Hsatami (2007) also found in their study that there was significant difference between stress among working and non working married women.

 

Table-3clearly reveals that the mean score obtained from working women on self-efficacy was 28.8 and mean score obtained from non-working on self-efficacy was 29.8. The difference between the two means was not significant. The higher mean score for self-efficacy was obtained by non-working women in comparison to working women. Kumthekar (2000) examined the working women, being an earner in the family, is easily accepted and respected. Hence; it was thought that working women would have a more positive self- efficacy as compared to non working women. The result was found, it is amazing to note that no significant difference between working and non working women. All women had a devaluated self- efficacy.

 

CONCLUSION

In the end it may conclude that working women are more efficient in managing the time in comparison to non married working married women. Result also shows that there is no significant difference in stress among working and non-working women. Surprisingly result also shows that working and non working married women have similar level in self- efficacy.

and S. Breznitz, eds. Handbook of Stress: Theoretical and Clinical Aspects. New York: The Free Press.

Selye, H. (1985).History and present status of the stress concept. In A. Monat& R.S. Lazarus, eds. Stress and Coping, 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University.

Sood Sonali (2006). A Journal of Research Papers, Department of Psychology, St. Bede’s College, Shimla: 2(1).

Valinate G.(2004).Self-efficacy: The exercise of cost role (Albert Bandura). Emory University.

Warr, P. (2005).Work, Well-Being and Mental Health.In J. L. Barling, E.K. Kelloway, and M.R. Frone (Eds), Handbook of Work Stress.California: Sage Publications.

Wenzel SL. (1993).The relationship of psychological resources and social support to job procurement self-efficacy in the disadvantaged. J Applied Psychology; 23(18): 1471–1497.