RESUMO
Stress has been a topic of interest in the last century, since its description by Hans Selye. Stressors could be anything from the daily life, professional or domestic, eventually leading the deleterious health outcomes. However some types of stressors were believed to be necessary for growth, which were termed eustress. In the present study we evaluated the stress levels in software professionals (n=155) from Karnataka State, India by using Professional Life stress Score (PLSS) and Perceived Stress Score (PSS) after explaining the subjects about the questionnaire and response types and obtaining their informed consent. Ethical clearance was obtained from the institutional ethics committee before the beginning of the data collection. Apart from the responses for the questionnaire, their BMI was calculated by carefully measuring their height and weight. Their other demographic data such as age, matrimonial status were also collected. From the results we found that PLSS score was elevated to mild and moderate degree among the study group, which was not correlated with either their age or matrimonial status. However in contrast, the PSS scores were elevated to higher degree and it was well correlated with BMI, age and number of years of experience. From the results we found that these young technical professionals of Bangalore and Mangalore did not have much professional stress but they were influenced by other factors which produce overall stress as evidenced by the elevated PSS scores. Thus we herestate that this study produced results which was helpful in differentiating the professional life environment causing stress and other compounding factors influencing the psychological well being. We, therefore conclude that well employed young professional enjoy their work but other extraneous factors could lead to stress.