Workplace Multitasking, Perceived Stress, and Work-Related Anxiety: A Cross-Sectional Survey Analysis
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Keywords

multitasking; task switching,
occupational stress
work-related anxiety
work organisation
survey research

How to Cite

Workplace Multitasking, Perceived Stress, and Work-Related Anxiety: A Cross-Sectional Survey Analysis. (2026). Journal of Cortexplore, 1(5), 224-241. http://cortexplore.org/index.php/jce/article/view/56

Abstract

Employees regularly shift between messages, meetings, complex assignments, and urgent requests, yet the psychological significance of these transitions remains difficult to isolate from general workload. This cross-sectional study examines reported multitasking demands, perceived work-related stress, anxiety symptoms, and work organisation/control using 200 records and a researcher-developed 28-item questionnaire. Four planned Pearson correlations, internal-consistency assessments, and exploratory adjusted regressions were evaluated, with confidence intervals, Holm correction, and sensitivity checks. Multitasking was correlated with stress (r = .604, 95% CI [.508, .685]) and anxiety (r = .564, 95% CI [.461, .652]). Stress and anxiety were closely associated (r = .836, 95% CI [.789, .874]). The negative correlation between work organisation/control and stress was not statistically significant (r = −.100, p = .158). Scale reliability estimates ranged from .795 to .889. These results are correlational rather than causal; the anxiety and stress measures also have potential conceptual overlap. The dataset was supplied as collected survey responses, but its substantial overlap with an earlier demonstration dataset warrants independent provenance review before treating numerical results as authenticated empirical evidence. The study highlights priorities for better instrument validation, work-design research, and longitudinal replication.

 

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