STRESS LEVELS AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG WORKING MOTHERS IN MEERUT: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

The dual responsibilities of professional work and family caregiving place working mothers at heightened risk of stress, particularly in societies where cultural expectations reinforce womens primary caregiving roles. This study examined the prevalence and determinants of stress among working mothers in Meerut city, a semi-urban context in Uttar Pradesh, India, where traditional family structures coexist with modern occupational demands. Grounded in Role Theory (Goode, 1960) and the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), the research aimed to identify how stress levels vary by family structure, number of children, and occupational sector.A cross-sectional survey design was employed with a sample of 100 working mothers, selected using stratified random sampling across four occupational sectors (education, healthcare, business, and self-employment). Stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983). Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze stress prevalence and group differences.Results showed that 72% of participants experienced moderate stress, while 18% reported high stress and only 10% reported low stress. Mothers in nuclear families reported higher stress than those in joint families, though the difference was not statistically significant. Stress was significantly higher among mothers with two or more children compared to those with one child.