Although stress related to work has received increased attention in recent years, the role of personality characteristics in mediating job stress has not been systematically investigated. Nonetheless, the perception of work stress and the significance of various sources of support may vary considerably based on individual characteristics. Questionnaires were administered to 71 bank tellers in an investigation of need for social approval (NSA), leader support, group cohesiveness, and job autonomy as mediators of perceived stress. The data indicated that NSA was positively correlated with perceived stress and that cohesiveness lowered stress for high NSA persons while autonomy lowered stress for low NSA persons. Leader support reduced perceived stress for low but not for high NSA tellers. Interactions among variables in predicting satisfaction and performance showed that only group cohesiveness interacted with NSA and perceived stress in determining job satisfaction. The results suggest that individual differences variables such as NSA are important in understanding vulnerability to perceptions of stress on the job, and that personality characteristics are useful in assessing the effectiveness of certain mediators of stress. (NRB)