General health, psychological and social wellbeing: The role of personal and occupational factors

Mahdian, Hossein; Tanhaye Reshvanloo, Farhad; Zahmatkesh, Zeinab; Javidi, Danyal

General health, psychological and social wellbeing: The role of personal and occupational factors

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of psychology, Islamic Azad university, Bojnourd Branch , Bojnourd, Iran

² Department of counseling, Farhangian university, Bojnourd Branch , Bojnourd, Iran

³ M.A in Educational psychology

⁴ Lecturer of Hakiman institute

Abstract

Introduction: The current study aims to investigate the relationship between personal and career factors with general health, mental health and social health.
Materials and methods: all university faculty member professors of Azad University of Bojnourd were selected as the research sample. Researcher made questionnaire of personal information (age, sex, marital status, and degree) and career information (teaching grade, employment statue, and distance from settlement) and general health questionnaire, mental and social wellbeing questionnaire were employed for variable assessment. Structural educational modeling was used for data analysis.
Results: Descriptive statistic reveals that participants have acceptable score in three research variables. SEM results show that all direct pathways are significant. Continuous teacher instruction, high decision making skills, having a high and prestigious position and high practical skill for coping with difficulties let them to have high scores in general, mental and social health.
Conclusion: Results from the present study support the view that positive mental health is more than the absence of negative mental health and is associated with indicators of higher levels of social well-being, positive health behaviors and improved health and social functioning.

Keywords

References

Barry, M. M., & Friedli, L. (2008). The influence of social, demographic and physical factors on positive mental health in children, adults and older people. In: Foresight Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project. State-of-Science Review: SR-B3. Government Office of Science and Innovation, London, UK.

Barry, M. M., Van Lente, E., Molcho, M., Morgan, K., McGee, H., Conroy, R., Watson, D., Shelley, E. & Perry, I. (2009). SLÁN 2007: Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition in Ireland. Mental Health and Social Well-being Report. Department of Health and Children. Dublin: The Stationery Office.

Blake, C., Codd, M. B., O’Meara, Y. M. (2000). The short form 36 (SF-36) health surveys: normative data for the Irish population. Irish Journal of Medical Science, 169(3), 195-200.

Dalgard, O. S., Dowrick, C., Lehtinen, V., Vazquez-Barquero, J. L., Casey, P., Wilkinson, G., Ayuso-Mateos, J. L., Page, H., & Dunn, G. (2006). Negative life events, social support and gender difference in depression: a multinational community survey with data from the ODIN study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41(6), 444-451.

European Opinion Research Group (2003). The mental health status of the European population. European Opinion Research Group, European Commission. Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection. Retrieved from: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_determinants/life_style/mental_eurobaro.pdf

Foresight Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project (2008). Final Project Report. The Government Office for Science, London Report and appendices. University of Essex, Colchester.

Friedli, L. (2009). Mental health, resilience and inequalities. WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen.

Goldberg, D. P., & Blackwell, B. (1970). Psychiatric illness in general practice: a detailed study using a new method of case identification. British Medical Journal, 2, 439–443.

Huppert, F. A., & Whittington, J. E. (2003). Evidence for the independence of positive and negative well-being: Implications for quality of life assessment. British Journal of Health Psychology, 8, 107–122.

Jenkinson, C., Coulter, A., & Wright, L. (1993). Short form-36 (Sf-36) health survey questionnaire normative data for adults of working age. British Medical Journal, 306, 1437–1440.

Keyes, C. L. M. (1998). Social well-being. Social Psychology Quarterly, 61, 121-140.

Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43, 207-222.

Keyes, C. L. M. (2005). Mental health and/or mental illness? Investigating axioms of the complete state model of health. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 539–548.

Lavikainen, J., Fryers, T., & Lehtinen, V. (2006). Improving mental health information in Europe. Proposal of the MINDFUL project (ed). STAKES, Helsinki.

Lehtinen, V., Sohlman, B., Kovess-Masfety, V. (2005). Level of positive mental health in the European Union: Results from the Euro barometer 2002 survey. Clinical Practice & Epidemiology in Mental Health, 1(9), 1-7.

Morgan, K., McGee, H., Watson, D., Perry, I., Barry, M., Shelley, E., Harrington, J., Molcho, M., Layte, R., Tully, N., Van Lente, E., Ward, M., Lutomski, J., Conroy, R. and Brugha, R. (2008). SLÁN 2007: Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition in Ireland. Main Report. Department of Health and Children. Dublin: The Stationery Office.

Prince, M., Patel, V., Saxena, S., Maj, M., Maselko, J., Phillips, M. R., & Rahman, A .(2007). No health without mental health. Lancet, 370, 859-77.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2001). To be happy or to be self-fulfilled: A review of research on hedonic and eudemonic well-being. In S. Fiske (Ed.), Annual Review of Psychology (Vol. 52; 141‐166). Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews/ Inc.

Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 57, 1069-1081.

Taylor, M., Brice, J., Buck, N., Prentice-Lane, E. (2005). British Household Panel Survey User Manual Volume A: Introduction, TechnicalReport and Appendices. Colchester: University of Essex.

World Health Organization (2002). Prevention and promotion in mental health. Mental Health: Evidence and Research. Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence. World Health Organization, Geneva.

World Health Organization (2003). Investing in mental health. Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence, Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health. World Health Organization, Geneva.

World Health Organization (2005). Mental health action plans for Europe. Facing the challenges, building solutions. World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, Denmark.