Stress in Farming

The experience of job-related stress was studied in 318 UK farmers. Of the job-related stress domains investigated, comparatively high amounts of stress were reported as a result of governmental regulation and its resulting bureaucracy, and relatively low amounts of stress resulted from feelings of isolation. Six major domains of stress emerged for farmers: farming bureaucracy, finance, isolation, uncontrollable natural forces, personal hazards and time pressure. The scores on different farming-related stress scales were compared across the sexes, ages and types of farm. In general, women reported more stress than men. Mixed-type and dairy farmers reported the highest levels of stress from time pressure, and cereals farmers the lowest. Livestock farmers had more financial stress than dairy and cereals farmers. Age lessened the stress reported from all aspects of farming except bureaucracy. The psychometric instrument developed in the present study—the Edinburgh Farming Stress Inventory—should be validated in other farming settings and in more representative samples of farmers. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.