Stress Effects Due to Traffic Congestion A Case Study on School Going Children of Dhaka City

Abstract

Traffic congestion in urban streets is a common phenomenon in many
cities around the world. Due to congestion and thus long waiting time on roads,
people may feel stressed. Stress has many effects on human body, especially for the
children. The main purpose of this research is to identify the stress effects on
children due to traffic congestion. The depth of the stress effects as well as the stress
level of school children due to traffic congestion while travelling to/from school
were measured. A total 120 students from class two to five, all are below 12 years
old, from three primary schools in Dhaka city were randomly selected and
interviewed using a pre-determined questionnaire. The “Perceived Stress Scale” was
applied to measure the depth of stress effects and the stress level. The data reveal
that the major stress effects due to traffic congestion are: irritability and moodiness,
crying tendency, aggressive behavior, school refusal tendency, spending a lot of time
alone, trouble to concentrate on school work, changing in eating habits, headaches
and stomachaches, anxiety and worry and sleeping disturbance. Almost 21% of the
respondents had high stress level and 55% had medium stress level due to
congestion. However, it was found that the stress level is related with the travel
distance, mode used and travel time for the school trip. The results of this research
will be helpful for formulating policy measures to reduce stress whilst the methods
and techniques could be applied for measuring stress level due to congestion for
other age groups, for people in other cities.