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 quantitatively 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 adaptabilities 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 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 well-being were
not mediated by career adaptability.