Psychological Well-Being Among Tanzanian University Students

Abstract

This study explored the prevalence of levels of psychological well-being in a group of Tanzanian university students. A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was implemented for data-gathering. A convenience sample of 279 undergraduate students (19 to 40 years, mean age 29 years) from three church-related universities completed the Mental Health Continuum -Short Form (MHC-SF) as measure of levels of well-being. Descriptive statistics and reliability indices were determined for the MHC-SF and the frequency of various levels of well-being established with implementation of Keyes's criteria for categorization. Findings indicated high levels of positive mental health in this group with a large number of students in the flourishing category. Smaller size of institution was associated with higher well-being. Future research should explore well-being in other Tanzanian groups as well as the possible role of spirituality and religion in subjective reports of psychosocial well-being.

Measuring positive mental health and flourishing in Denmark: validation of the mental health continuum-short form (MHC-SF) and cross-cultural comparison across three countries

“…These flourishing rates are, as far as we know, the highest ever reported, which has raised concerns about the functioning of the scale among the Canadian authors. One study involving a student sample in Tanzania also reported a remarkably high flourishing rate of 72.8% [ 52 ]. Studies using the MHC-SF to measure flourishing in African settings are scarce, but this number may be compared to a 20% flourishing rate reported in a South African sample [ 53 ].…”

Emotional intelligence and personal growth initiative effects on subjective happiness among university students

“…Relatively little is known about predictors of subjective happiness in African settings. Most of the related studies have examined the predictors of subjective well-being (Addai, Opoku-Agyeman, & Amanfu, 2014;Guse, Vescovelli, & Croxford, 2017;Rugira, Nienaber, & Wissing, 2013) rather than subjective happiness. Moreover, the ways in which personal growth initiative may augment subjective happiness has not been studied in African settings.…”

Revisión sistemática sobre modelos multidimensionales del bienestar y su medición en estudiantes universitarios

“…Adicionalmente, las variables como atención plena, iniciativa, preparación para exámenes, necesidades psicológicas básicas, esperanza disposiciones, búsqueda de conocimiento, autoeficacia y optimismo fueron identificados como predictores positivos del florecimiento (Akin y Akin, 2015b;Demirli et al, 2015;Mesurado et al, 2016;Miljković y Jurčec, 2016;Robitschek y Keyes, 2009;Satici et al, 2013;Selvaraj y Bhat, 2018). Los análisis descriptivos mostraron que la mayoría de los estudiantes se encontraban floreciendo (Keyes et al, 2012;Low, 2011;Rugira et al, 2013, Basson y Rothmann, 2018, solo un estudio reportó resultados donde la mayoría de los estudiantes estaban moderadamente florecientes (n=149), seguidos de florecientes (n=35) y por último en menor medida languideciente (n=40) (Joshanloo y Nosratabadi, 2009). Con respecto a los trabajos con diseño experimental, los autores reportan que los programas de intervención en educación al aire libre tienen impacto a largo plazo en el florecimiento de los estudiantes (Shellman y Hill, 2017).…”