Relationship Between Psychological Stress And Mental Health Among Young Lecturers

Abstract

Mental health is an essential element in ensuring the well-being of each individual. Career as a young lecturer in a university gives no exception but to deal with work stress, particularly in a research university. Work stress brings direct and indirect effects to their mental health. This study aimed to measure the extent of psychological stress levels among young lecturers and its relationship with their mental health. A total of 100 young lecturers were involved in this study, which used a quantitative questionnaire survey method. The study found that two-thirds of respondents had high levels of psychological stress. Almost half of the respondents had a low level of mental health. For mental health subscales, 51 percent of respondents had a high level of anxiety; 23 percent of respondents had high levels of depression; 44 percent of respondents had low behavioural controls and 58 percent of respondents had a low positive feeling. There is a significant correlation between the degree of psychological stress and mental health but only sub-scale anxiety, behaviour control and positive affective have significant relationship with psychological stress at p <0.05. In conclusion, the findings of this study are expected to help the management to ensure the existence of intervention programs at research universities to reduce psychological stress in order to improve the mental health of young lecturers.