A primary purpose of this study is to describe a theoretical approach which will aid in identifying and classifying role stresses within an occupational position. In order to accomplish this purpose, the findings of an occupational study will be used to furnish concrete examples of each category of role stresses. This study is based on data derived from a review of the appropriate literature and from twenty-seven four-hour interviews with teachers in three selected parishes in Louisiana. The sociologist is primarily concerned with patterns of social behavior. In order to understand these patterns he is concerned also with the components or causative factors that structure behavior, the manner of their coalescence, the patterns and processes that evolve in social action, and finally, the consequences or functions of specific patterns of interaction in specified situations. Research findings are reported which indicate reasons why these stresses have occurred, the mechanisms by which they are usually ameliorated, and the consequences of these stresses.