Relationship between Academic Expectation Stress, Career Adaptability and Psychological Well-Being among Postgraduate Students

Abstract

Postgraduate students' psychological well-being is viewed as a component in having a meaningful, joyful, and productive academic experience.The purpose of this study was to determine quantitively the factors affecting psychological well-being among postgraduate students. The current study aimed to explore the relationship of academic expectation stress, career adaptability and well-being among postgraduate students; the direct effect of three dimensions of academic expectation stress(self, parental, supervisor) and career adaptability on well-being. It also determined the strongest predictor of psychological well-being after controlling the demographic variables as well as identifying the mediating role of career adaptability among the relation of academic expectation stress and psychological well-being. The online questionnaire survey was followed in the present study to collect the data from 287 enrolled MS/PhD students. The academic expectation stress inventory (AESI), career adapt-abilities scale (CAAS) and 42-items Ryff scale of Psychological well-being were administered to the respondents through an online survey. The result showed that dimensions of academic expectation stress (i.e. parents, teachers, self) and career adaptability were significantly associated with psychological well-being. It was further explored that self-expectation and career adaptability were strong predictors of psychological well-being. The Hayes process model demonstrated that career adaptability was significantly completely mediated the relation of teacher/supervisor and psychological well-being. Whereas, the other dimensions of academic expectation i.e. relation of parental and self-expectation with psychological wellbeing was not mediated by career adaptability.