The present study reports the results of an empirical analysis on the causes of stress among PhD Research Scholars with reference to Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University. A survey using stress questionnaire consisting of 35 multiple choice statements on 50 Research Scholars who participated in the Pre-PhD Course work at CP & Berar E.S. College, Nagpur was carried out during December 2016, the course work period. Six independent stress causing factors Work overload, Role ambiguity, Role overload, Physiological factors, and Behavioural Approach and Avoidance strategies and their effect on a dependent factor performance were assessed. We carried out the descriptive, correlation, Analysis of Variance and Multiple regression analysis to predict the cause and effect of six said independent variables on a dependent variable performance. The reliability and internal consistencies of the research instrument was measured using the reliability statistic Cronbach Alpha. The Cronbach Alpha values for all the factors varied from 0.66 to 0.80, whereas overall Cronbach Alpha measured at 0.78 indicating strong internal consistencies among the items of the research instrument. The statistical analysis reveal medium level stress among the research scholars and behavioural avoidance coping strategies has significant effect on reducing the stress(P<0.013), whereas the physiological factors (P<0.002) significantly contributed to the stress among the research scholars. Key Words: Stress, Research Scholar, Cronbach Alpha, Coping Strategies, Course Work.