The Prevalence of Levels of Well-Being Revisited in an African Context


Subgroup

Mean

SD

Min-max

Skewness

Kurtosis

Cronbach’s alpha

Group 1 (N  =  568)

46.4

11.3

4–70

−.61

.28

.83

FET1 college students 2007
      
Group 2 (N  =  1,480)

48.0

10.4

10–70

−.53

.32

.82

FET2 college students 2008
      
Group 3 (N  =  185)

43.0

10.4

15–63

−.31

−.51

.74

FET3 Setswana-speaking college students 2009
      
Group 4 (N  =  263)

48.3

10.6

5–68

−.78

.84

.83

FET4 college students 2010
      
Group 5 (N  =  293)

46.6

10.5

14–67

−.63

.03

.90

University students 2010
      
Group 6 (N  =  122)

43.9

10.8

6–66

−.57

.75

.90

Adults, Afrikaans speaking 2008
      
Group 7 (N  =  204)

45.1

11.6

8–69

−.49

.23

.91

Adults, English and Afrikaans speaking 2007/8
      
Group 8 (N  =  409)

48.2

10.9

11–70

−.42

−.18

.89

Teachers multicultural 2008/9
      
Group 9 (N  =  296)

46.2

13.1

6–70

−.49

−.35

.82

Adults, Setswana speaking 2008
      
Group 10 (N  =  459)

43.4

12.8

2–69

−.29

−.52

.84

Adults, Setswana speaking 2009
      
Group 11 (N  =  1,050)
      
Adults, Setswana speaking
      
A. Urban 2005

41.0

 9.2

8–63

−.36

−.11

.71

B. Rural 2005

36.5

 9.3

6–67

.52

.86

.76

Group 12 (N  =  1,275)
      
Adults, Setswana speaking
      
A. Urban (N  =  581) 2010

45.9

12.1

7–70

−.59

.30

.80

B. Rural (N  =  694) 2010

46.4

11.9

4–70

−.86

.53

.78



The MHC-SF measured consistently in all groups, as indicated by Cronbach’s alpha coefficients from 0.71 for the Setswana version as completed by adult Setswana speakers in group 11 (2005) to 0.91 for the English version as completed by Afrikaans- and English-speaking adults. Most of the other reliability indices were between 0.80 and 0.90. Mean scores vary between 36.5 for the Setswana version as determined in a rural sample (2005) and 48.3 for the English version in a college student group as completed in 2010. Standard deviations vary between 9.2 and 13.1. In all instances (except that of the adult rural Setswana-speaking group of 2005), scores were negatively skewed, indicating more scores to the positive/higher side though all the values were within the suggested range of −1 to 0,which indicates a moderate deviation from the normal distribution curve (Field 2005). The kurtoses for the various groups range from steep (groups 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, and 12) to shallow (groups 3, 8, 9, 10), with group 5 almost nearing a normal curve (Howitt and Cramer 2008).



Correlations Between the MHC-SF and Other Measures of Psychosocial Well-Being


The correlations between the MHC-SF, on the one hand, and other measures of psychosocial well-being on the other are shown in Table 4.2 for the student/youth groups and in Table 4.3 for the adult groups.


Table 4.2
Correlations between the MHC-SF and other measuresa of psychosocial health in student/youth subgroups










































































Measures

Group 1 FET1 N  =  568

Group 2 FET2 N  =  1,480

bGroup 3 FET3 N  =  185

Group 4 FET4 N  =  263

Group 5 University N  =  293

SWLS
       
.50

GHQ

−.23

−.30

−.29

−.31
 

PHQ-9

−.24

−.31

−.28

−.32
 

NGSE

.31

.38

.26

.40
 

SRS

.46

.49
 
.40
 

CSE

.49

.50
 
.56
 

FORQ

.42

.51

.30

.55
 

GPWS
     
.58
 


MHC-SF Mental Health Continuum-Short Form, SWLS Satisfaction with Life Scale, GHQ General Health Questionnaire, PHQ-9 Patient Health Questionnaire: Depression Symptoms, NGSE New General Self-Efficacy Scale, SRS Self-Regulation Scale, CSE Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, FORQ Fortitude Questionnaire, GPWS General Psychological Well-Being Scale

aMeasures varied in the different groups

bSetswana version



Table 4.3
Correlations between the MHC-SF and other measuresa of psychosocial health in adult samples


































































































































Measures

Group 6 Afrikaans N  =  122

Group 7 English N  =  204

Group 8 Teachers N  =  409

Group 9 Setswana N  =  296

Group 10 Setswana N  =  459

Group 11 Setswana N  =  1,050 U–R

Group 12 Setswana N  =  1,275 U–R

SOC

.57
     
.46

.30–.31
 

AFM:PA

.70
     
.56

.51–.51
 

AFM:NA

−.54
     
−.18

−.25 to −.29
 

SWLS
     
.49

.34

.39–.39

.40–42

GHQ
 
−.56

−.30
 
−.37

−.22 to −.21

−.37 to −.37

PHQ-9
 
−.53

−.25

−.25

.38
 
−.19 to −.20

NGSE
         
.31–.35
 

SRS
 
.31
         

CSE
 
.70
 
.47

.45
 
.50–.39

FORQ

.65

.59

.46
 
.48
   

GPWS
     
.53

.52
 
.50–.50

WEMWBS
           
.42–.42


U urban, R rural, MHC-SF Mental Health Continuum-Short Form, SOC Sense of Coherence Scale, AFM affectometer 2, PA positive affect, NA negative affect, SWLS Satisfaction with Life Scale, GHQ General Health Questionnaire, PHQ-9 Patient Health Questionnaire: Depression Symptoms, NGSE New General Self-Efficacy Scale, SRS Self-Regulation Scale, CSE Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, FORQ Fortitude Questionnaire, GPWS General Psychological Well-Being Scale, WEMWBS Warwick–Edinburg Mental Well-Being Scale

aMeasures varied in the different groups

As can be noted in Tables 4.2 and 4.3, the MHC-SF correlates significantly with other indices of psychosocial well-being and negatively with indices of symptoms as measured by the GHQ and PHQ-9. The magnitude of correlations of the MHC-SF with a particular scale varied slightly in the different groups. The strongest positive correlations are found with positive affect, sense of coherence, coping self-efficacy, fortitude, and general psychological well-being. The correlations can be classified as ranging from large to medium effect (Field 2005) in terms of the practical significance of the correlations. Satisfaction with life in group 5 has a significant correlation of 0.50 with MHC-SF, which explains 25% of the variance.


Prevalence of Levels of Psychosocial Well-Being


The percentages of participants who were flourishing, languishing, or moderately mentally healthy in each of the subgroups are shown in Table 4.4.


Table 4.4
The prevalence of the various levels of mental health in all groups

















































































Subgroup

Number of participants

Flourishing

Moderate mental health

Languishing

Group 1

568

60

34

6

FET1 college students 2007
       

Group 2

1,480

60.2

34.3

3.5

FET2 college students 2008
       

Group 3

185

43.9

47.6

7.5

FET3 Setswana-speaking college students 2009
       

Group 4

263

60.8

35.4

3.8

FET4 college students 2010
       

Group 5

293

51.5

45.1

2.7

University students 2010
       

Group 6

122

38.5

57.4

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Jun 29, 2017 | Posted by in PSYCHOLOGY | Comments Off on The Prevalence of Levels of Well-Being Revisited in an African Context

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