EFFECT OF PERCIEVED STRESS, SELF-EFFICACY AND MENTAL HEALTH

ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING OF SECONDARY TEACHERS IN IJEBU

NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF OGUN STATE
BY
Azeez, R. Olugbenga
rsqazeez@yahoo.com
+234805-521-8237
&
Adenuga, Olusegun A.
obaadenuga@yahoo.com
+234805-777-3634
Educational Foundations and Counseling
Olabisi Onabanjo University Ago-Iwoye,
Ogun State, Nigeria
Abstract
This study examined the joint and relative effect of perceived stress, self-efficacy, and
mental health on psychological wellbeing of secondary teachers. The study adopted the
survey research design. Data were collected from randomly selected 238 teachers from
the existing 19 public secondary schools in Ijebu North Local Government area of Ogun
state, using four standardized instruments. Two research questions were raised and
answered. The analysis of variance for the multiple regression yielded (F (3,237) = 10.17),
and significant at p<0.05 level. It also shows that the t-values associated with perceived
stress and self-efficacy were significant at p<0.05 level. This implies that perceived stress
( = -.118, t = -1. 931, P< .05) and self-efficacy ( = 0.277, t = 4.562, P< .05) were the
best predictors of psychological wellbeing. The result further shows that mental health (
= -0.168, t = -1.439, P> .05) did not show significant independent prediction of the
criterion variable. The results were discussed in relation to teachers psychological
wellbeing and recommendations were made based on the findings.
Key Words: Stress, Self-efficacy, Mental Health, Psychological Wellbeing

Background and Problem

Overcoming suffering and distress and developing positive feelings are at the core
of mental health and wellbeing. All normal people wish to live in peace and happiness.
The feeling of happiness and satisfaction subjectively experienced by individuals has
been termed as psychological wellbeing (Okun and Stock, 1987). One form of this was
defined as the extent to which respondents endorse high level of autonomy,
environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life
and self-acceptance (Urry, et al., 2004: p.367). another form hedonic wellbeing was
referred to as satisfaction with life, satisfaction with important domains such as work,
frequently experienced positive emotions and infrequently experienced negative emotions
(Martin, Carlson & Buskist, 2007)
We often measure wellbeing as happiness or satisfaction with life. The search for
happiness is often confused with the pursuit of pleasure, but wellbeing is about more than
living the good life; it is about having meaning in life, about fulfilling our potential and
feeling that our lives are worthwhile (Bond, 2003). A few other terms like subjective
wellbeing, quality of life, mental health and life satisfaction have been used as synonyms
of psychological wellbeing (PWB).
In recent years there has been global interest in the study of PWB and quality of
life. This affective reaction of satisfaction is not necessarily related to material gain or the
objective conditions of life. One may be dissatisfied with his life in spite of having plenty
of wealth and family riches (Lawton, 1983). Psychological or subjective wellbeing is
more a question of our attitude and approach to life situations. Freedman (1978) has
shown how cognitive processes such as aspiration, social comparison and adaptation
level are related to it.
Psychological wellbeing is a multi-dimensional concept. Results of factor analysis
done by researchers confirm this and instruments have been produced to measure it.
Cheerfulness, optimism, playfulness, self-control, a sense of detachment and freedom
from frustration, anxiety and loneliness have been accepted as indications of
psychological wellbeing by certain researchers (Sinha and Verma, 1992). McCulloch
(1991) has shown that satisfaction, morale, positive affect, and social support constitute
PWB. In a factor analysis study, Bhogle and Prakash (1995) have found that PWB

consists of twelve factors which include both positive and negative components such as
meaninglessness, self-esteem, positive affect, life satisfaction, suicidal ideas, personal
control, tension etc. and they can be tapped by their scale developed to measure
psychological wellbeing. In other words, a person high in PWB not only carries higher
levels of life satisfaction, self-esteem, positive feelings and attitudes, but also manages
tensions, negative thoughts, ideas and feelings more efficiently.
Research has demonstrated a clear relationship between perceived stress and
wellbeing (Udoh & Ajala; 2001). The word stress, like success, failure, or happiness,
means different things to different people and no-one has really tried to define it,
although it has become part of our daily vocabulary (Seyle, 1956, 1991). Stress,
generally, can be defined as reaction of individuals to demands (stressors) imposed upon
them (Erkutle & Chafra, 2006). However, work related stress is caused when there is a
mismatch between job requirements and the individual's capabilities, resources or needs
(National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1999).
The World Health Organization (WHO) calls stress a worldwide epidemic. This
is because it has recently been observed to be associated with 90% of visits to physicians.
Also 40% of employee turnover are due to stress-related problems (Akinboye, 1992).
Stress is thus a composite and multi-dimensional condition impacting with profound
consequences on living organisms (Akinboye, 2002).
Another variable of interest in this study is mental health. Research has
established a link between mental health and wellbeing (Martin, Carlson & Buskist,
2007; Musah & Salome, 2007; Tim & Rockey, 1992). Sunderland & Cooper (1992)
reported that nearly three in every ten employees will have a mental health problem in
any one year, the great majority of which will be anxiety and depressive disorders.
Mental health problems account for the loss of over 91 million working days each year.
Half of all days lost through mental ill health are due to anxiety and stress conditions. The
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) estimates that 30 times as many days are lost
from mental ill health as from industrial disputes.
Research findings have shown that ones belief may be a source of stress and
performance. One type of belief that has received considerable attention in the research is
self-efficacy. Research findings have shown that ones own beliefs of efficacy function as

an important determinant of motivation, affect, thought and action (Bandura, 1992). Selfefficacy refers to beliefs about ones capabilities to learn and perform behaviours at
designated levels (Bandura, 1986, 1997). Schwarzer (1999) posits that self-efficacy can
make difference to peoples ways of thinking, feeling and acting. With respect to feelings,
a low sense of self-efficacy is associated with depression, anxiety and helplessness.
People with low self-efficacy also harbour pessimistic thoughts about their performance
and personal development.
Research has shown that Self-Efficacy can influence behavior (Bandura, 1982;
Delcourt & Kinzie, 1993 and Maitland, 1996). Seligman and Schulman (1986) have
found that people who can find something positive in less-than-desirable circumstances
are generally more successful than are people who view those circumstances negatively.
Self-efficacy has been argued to be an increasingly important construct in the
organizational sciences (Gist and Mitchell, 1992), often examined as an individual
difference factor capable of influencing the relationship between antecedents and
consequences. Research has shown that employees who report perceptions of personal
efficacy cope better when faced with change (Hill, 1987), resist the acceptance of
negative feedback (Meece, Wigfield, & Eccles, 1990), and persist at performing tasks
longer, even in the face of adversity (Lent, Lopez & Bieschke 1991).
While it is very heartening to see a growing interest in the psychological
wellbeing of people, we are still at low pace at studying its relevance to organizational
growth. In short, psychological wellbeing is not just a moderator variable to our
performance as reported by Sultana (1996), rather it makes life meaningful and
purposeful. Rightly therefore, efforts are being made by psychologists to investigate the
socio-psychological correlates of PWB (Sinha and Verma, 1992). Based on the above
background, the following two research questions are raised in other to achieve the
objective of this study: (i) what is the combined effect of perceived stress, self-efficacy
and mental health on psychological wellbeing of secondary teachers? And (ii) what is the
relative contribution of perceived stress, self-efficacy and mental health on psychological
wellbeing of secondary teachers.

Method
Design
The present study adopts the Ex-post-facto research design. The predictor
variables examined have already occurred; hence there was no manipulation of the
variables. The predictor variables in this study are perceived stress, self-efficacy and
mental health
Instrumentation
Four standardized instruments were used for data collection. The instruments are
described below.
-Perceived Stress Scale
It is a 10-item scale designed and developed by Blau (1970). The scale has a
response format ranging between never (0), almost never (1), sometimes (2), fairly
often (3), and very often (4). High scores in the scale reflect high level of perceived
stress while low scores reflect low level of perceived stress. In this study, a Cronbachs
alpha of 0.72 and a Guttman Split-half reliability coefficient of 0.77 were reported for the
scale.
-Generalized Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale
The Generalized Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (GPSS) developed by Jerusalem
and Schwarzer (1995) was adopted to measure the self-efficacy of the respondents. The
German version of the scale was developed and used by Matthias Jerusalem and Ralf
Schwarzer in 1980 as a 20-item version and later improved to 10-items version.
Examples of the items on the scale are (1) I can remain calm when facing difficulties
because I can rely on my coping abilities and (2) I can usually handle whatever comes
my way

-Mental Health Scale

The Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) developed by Viet and Ware (1983) was
used to measure mental health of the subjects. The inventory is a 5-item scale based on a
5-point scale ranging from 1 = none of the time to 5 = all of the time. The MHI-5 has a
minimum score of 5 and a maximum score of 25. Higher scores imply desirable
experience of psychological wellbeing and absence of psychological distress during the
past month.
-Psychological Wellbeing Scale
The Psychological Well-Being (PWB) Inventory (Ryff, 1989) was used to collect
data on the psychological wellbeing of the respondents. The PWB is designed to measure
psychological well-being through assessing six dimensions (Ryff, 1989). The six
dimensions are self-acceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental
mastery, purpose in life, and personal growth. The original form contains 20 items per
dimension measured on a 6-point Likert-type scale. The shorter version used in this study
has 14-items per dimension. Ryff reports that the correlations between the original form
of the PWB and the 14-item shorter version of the PWB range from .97 to .98.

Procedure
The researchers personally administered the scales to the respondents. Completed
scales were thoroughly checked to ensure that they were properly filled. The data analysis
involved multiple regression analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the T-test
statistics.
Data Analysis
The tables presented below show the composite effects and the relative contributions of
each independent variable to the psychological wellbeing of the subjects.
Table 1: Analysis of the Composite Effects of Predictor Variables on Psychological
Wellbeing
R

0.332a

R square

0.110

Adjusted R Square

0.099

Std Error of the Estimate

7.30

Model
Regression

Sum of Squares
1626.612

Df
3

Residual

13117.788

234 542.204

Total
14744.400
P<0.05 level

Means of Squares

Sig.

10.17

.000 a

237 53.324

Table1 shows the regression value for the combined effect (.332) and the adjusted
R2 (.099). This implies that 9.9% of the variance in the psychological wellbeing of
respondents is accounted for by the predictor variables. The table also shows that the Fvalue (10.17) is significant at 0.00, a level that is less than 0.05. This shows that the
predictor variables have significant effect on psychological wellbeing of teachers.

Table 2: Test of Significance of the Regression Coefficients

Variables

(Constant)
Perceived Stress

Standardized

Standardized T value

Coefficients

Coefficients

Std.

13.728

Error
5.596

-.225

.116

Self-Efficacy
Mental Health

.382
1.293

Sig.

Beta
2.453*

<.05

-.118

-1.931*

<.05

.084

.277

4.562*

<.05

.951

.803

1.359

>.05

*Significant at 0.05 level

Table2 shows the relative contribution of each predictor variable to the variance in
psychological wellbeing of respondents. Self-efficacy has the highest beta value (4.562)
and significant at .05, followed by perceived stress (-1.931) and also significant, followed
by mental health (1.359) which is not significant. Therefore self-efficacy predicts
psychological wellbeing of respondents most, followed by perceived stress and mental
health the least. While self-efficacy and mental health have positive effect perceived
stress has negative effect psychological wellbeing of respondents.
Discussion
The finings of the study indicated that the independent variables perceived
stress, self-efficacy, and mental health were significant predictors of psychological
wellbeing of teachers. The study further found that perceived stress and self-efficacy had
higher individual predictive relationship with teachers wellbeing than mental health. It is
not surprising to find self-efficacy as a better predictor than other predictor variables.
Earlier studies have confirmed self-efficacy to be a good predictor of psychological
wellbeing. Lavin, and Pennington (1996) and Mabekoje (2003) found high correlations
between self-efficacy and psychological wellbeing.
It is revealing that mental health affects psychological wellbeing. This finding
supports the finding of Udoh & Ajala (2001) which found that mental health is a crucial
psychological factor to human behaviour. Research evidence has demonstrated that

mental health offers opportunities for resource development. Since wellbeing has to do
with optimal functionality, the result of this study, supports that of Sumbergs (1989)
study which found mentally healthy persons as ones who function adequately in family
and in society most of the time. The study also confirmed that the absence of stress
enhances the psychological wellbeing of teachers. This supports the work of Posen
(1995) which proved that understanding stress leads to deriving personal as well as
professional benefits and ultimately wellbeing.
Recommendations
Consequent upon the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made for
the improvement of teachers psychological wellbeing.
i.

Employees should be provided with genuine control over their work and an
appropriate degree of self-management of workload. Roles should be clearly
demarcated with defined responsibilities and expectations in order to avoid stress.

ii.

Employees should part of planning and decision making. The physical workplace
environment should be of a high standard, including natural light where possible,
good ventilation; good health and safety practices are readily available.

iii.

Employees should be actively discouraged from working excessively long hours.

A supportive working environment should be provided for people with mental
health problems.

iv.

There should be on-the-job support and mentoring schemes. There should be

ways of tackling employment discrimination and providing support during
periods of ill health.

v.

Industrial psychologists also need to maintain extensive connections with

specialist mental health agencies within the community in order to make
appropriate referrals for workers who are dealing with more serious psychological
problems.

vi.

Training programme on self-efficacy, mental health and stress management be

organized to assist staffers in improving their psychological wellbeing.

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