Full-time non-tenure track faculty, commonly referred to as NTT faculty, are increasingly utilized in higher education and shoulder much of the teaching load within academic institutions. Self-determination theory (SDT) has shown promise as a conceptual frame for characterizing the relationship between environmental support factors and NTT faculty satisfaction. Full-time NTT faculty were sampled nationwide ( N = 3,527) to investigate an SDT-based model positing basic psychological needs (i.e., volitional autonomy and relatedness) as mediators between six environmental support indices and NTT faculty satisfaction (i.e., teaching/service and global satisfaction). Structural equation model results showed volitional autonomy and relatedness fully mediated the relationships between the six environmental supports and both indices of faculty satisfaction. Results highlight the utility of basic psychological needs in understanding the relationships between the environment and NTT faculty satisfaction. Implications, future directions, and limitations are also presented.

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The public and self-stigmas of seeking psychological help are well-known barriers which prevent people from seeking mental health care. However, little consideration has been given regarding if, and to what extent, there is an incremental role of personality factors on the development of a person's attitudes and intentions toward seeking professional psychological help. Thus, there is a clear gap in the theoretical and quantitative understanding of the help-seeking process. Personal growth initiative (PGI), which captures a person's ability to identify areas for change and initiate growth, is a modifiable characterological orientation that may offer novel insight into the process underlying the decision to seek mental health care, which is instrinically characterized by its momentum toward positive self-change. Therefore, the present study sought to expand upon an established model of stigma and help-seeking variables by testing the incremental and predictive utility of PGI. Using structural equation modeling among a sample of college students, 70% of whom reported clinically relevant levels of interpersonal problems, we modeled the relationships among PGI and four well-researched help-seeking variables-public stigma, self-stigma, attitudes toward mental health care, and intentions to seek mental health care-after controlling for severity of interpersonal problems. Our study provides evidence for PGI as a unique predictor of lower self-stigma and increased help-seeking intentions above and beyond the other variables in the model. We discuss potential implications and the need for further research.

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