engleski

Mental health of future seafarers: The role of personal values and subjective well-being

Seafaring is a very demanding, challenging and specific profession, which has a crucial role in the international merchandise trade. Globalization has led to the constant development of new technologies in the fourth industrial revolution, and management primarily aimed at turning a profit. Consequently, work requirements that had already been high in seafaring have additionally increased. Due to extremely difficult working conditions, seafarers might experience higher levels of anxiety and anger, frustrations, chronic responsibility syndrome as well as burnout. This highlights the importance of studying mental health among seafarers. According to World Health Organization, mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. Previous findings in the general population suggest that personal values, which are relatively stable and serve as a motivational basis for goals might be potentially important for the well-being and mental health of future seafarers. Furthermore, it is claimed that some personal values in adolescence are associated with mental health and subjective well-being in adulthood. Considering that studying the relationship between mental health, personal values and subjective well-being of future seafarers represents a research gap, the main aim of this study was to examine the individual contributions of personal values and different aspects of subjective well-being in the explanation of future seafarers’ mental health. The sample involved 239 future seafarers who participated in three different study courses (Marine Engineering, Maritime Yacht and Marina Technologies and Transport, Nautical Studies and Maritime Transport Technology) in four Croatian maritime faculties. The measures included a sociodemographic questionnaire, Personal Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) and Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5). The results of hierarchical regression analysis indicate that three primary components of subjective well-being significantly contribute to the explanation of mental health. Namely, participants who are more satisfied with life, have more positive experiences and less negative experiences have better mental health. Although three higher-order personal values were positively correlated with mental health at the bivariate level they do not have a significant role in the explanation of mental health. Moreover, one-way ANOVAs were conducted to examine the differences in observed variables between students of different study courses. A higher grade point average (GPA) was achieved by students enrolled in Maritime Yacht and Marina Technologies than Marine Engineering students. Considering ten personal values in Schwartz’s theory, significant differences between different students of different courses were only found for conformity ; this personal value is more important to students of Nautical Studies and Maritime Transport Technology than students who are enrolled in Maritime Yacht and Marina Technologies. Students of Nautical Studies and Maritime Transport Technology reported having less positive experiences than Marine Engineering students. Practical implications and theoretical contributions are discussed.

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