Work difficulties and stress in young professional engineers

This longitudinal study investigated work-related difficulties in young professional engineers after three years (n = 380) and four years (n = 350) work experience. Four areas of difficulty were identified as a result of factor analysis—people difficulties; information difficulties; technical difficulties; and report-writing difficulties. Technical difficulties were less frequently mentioned than the other categories of difficulty at both time periods. Role stress, environmental frustration, engineering field, and perceived quality of training were related to people difficulties. Those who worked in engineering design and consultancy reported more technical difficulties. Role stress was related to report-writing difficulties and, to a lesser extent, to information difficulties. A number of small but significant correlations were found between people difficulties and measures of psychological strain.