Occupational mental health and job satisfaction in university teachers in Shenyang, China

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the current status of occupational mental health and job satisfaction in university teachers in Shenyang, China and related influencing factors. Methods: A total of 1500 teachers from 6 universities in Shenyang were randomly selected as study subjects from November 2013 to January 2014. Self-administered questionnaires were used to investigate mental health, including effort-reward imbalance questionnaire, Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, Center for Epidemiological Survey-Depression Scale, and Psychological Capital Questionnaire. Results: Of all teachers, 58.9% had depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms in university teachers were negatively correlated with the scores of psychological capital, supervisory commitment, and perceived organizational support (r=-0.461, -0.306, and -0.366, all P<0.01) and were positively correlated with the score of occupational stress (r=0.414, P<0.01) . Job satisfaction was positively correlated with psychological capital, perceived organizational support, and supervisory commitment (r=0.650, 0.715, and 0.636, all P<0.01) and negatively correlated with occupational stress (r=-0.475, P<0.01) . The direct effects of occupational stress, perceived organizational support, and supervisory commitment on job satisfaction were -0.30, 0.26, and 0.14, respectively, and their indirect effects were -0.0176, 0.0656, and 0.0368, respectively. The direct effects of occupational stress, perceived organizational support, and supervisory commitment on depressive symptoms were 0.20, -0.08, and -0.05, respectively, and their indirect effects was 0.033, -0.123, and -0.069, respectively. Conclusion: Occupational mental health is closely associated with job satisfaction in university teachers in Shenyang, and psychological capital has a mediating effect on perceived organizational support, supervisory commitment, occupational stress, job satisfaction, and depressive symptoms.