By Dr Olubunmi Oyebimpe Omolade
Abstract
The study assessed the influence of some demographic variables and academic stress on the mental well-being of undergraduates in Ondo State, Nigeria. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study, guided by four null hypotheses. The target population comprised of undergraduates in Ondo State public higher institutions. Two hundred (200) undergraduates from two (2) selected institutions were chosen through stratified random sampling as the sample of the study. Two research instruments utilized in this study were Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), and Student Academic Stress Scale (SASS). The reliability of the instruments are .89 and .80 respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive, Pearson product moment correlation and t-test statistics. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that a significant negative relationship exists between academic stress and mental well-being. In addition, mental well-being was not influenced by family type but by gender and age. It was recommended that stakeholders in Counselling and Human Development at the tertiary education level should take demographic variables and psychological construct such as academic stress into consideration when proffering solutions to mental well-being challenges among Nigerian undergraduates.