Influences of Individual Factor Towards Stress in Military

In dealing with the daily work, individuals cannot run from the element of pressure(stress). In most situation stress is needed to stimulate an activity. Stress can be divided
into two opposite polarity which are able to drive to positive and negative effects. The negative impact such as people with disabilities and organizations with declining
productivity will cause the decline of organization's competitive advantages. Based on the board of inquiry conducted by the military units, most of the soldiers involved in disciplinary cases faced stress from two main factors which are the organizational factors which involve task demand, role demand, organizational leadership and organizational life and individual factors such as family problems, economic problems, personalities, job experience and perception. This study aimed to determine the level of work stress and the influence of individual factors contributed to the stress among soldiers in 5"' Border
Regiment, Kem Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kedah. The aim of this study is; to identify the extent level of stress among soldiers of the Border Regiment; to identify the individual factors that cause stress experienced among Border Regiment soldiers; to identify the relationship exists between the independent variables (family problems, economic problems, personality, job experience and perception) towards the level of stress among Border Regiment soldiers. -
A total of 120 questionnaires were distributed to 120 personnel in the battalion and all questionnaires were returned for analysis. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis to interpret data. Research finding revealed there was stress experience exist among the respondents. Significant values for each elements in personal background showed there are no significant differences toward stress: age (sig 0.598>0.05), marital status (sig 0.092>0.05), rank (sig
0.137>0.05), period of service (sig 0.099>0.05),appointment (sig 0.264>0.05) and academic qualification (sig 0.079>0.05). The lower rank (corporal and below) is more faced stress experience if compared to the senior ranks (sergeant to warrant officer) and officers level. The respondents who have higher education qualification such Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) and above than that faced lower level stress experienced compared to the
respondents who have minimum education qualification like Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and below. This result has confirmed the Burke (1994) findings. Beside the personal
background there also two major elements contributed to the stress which is family problems and job experience. In this particular research the economic, personality and perception did not gave so much impact to stress experience compared to family problems and job experience, however the result is still supported the potential sources and consequences of the stress which was introduced by Robbins (2001).