Relationship between Mental Health
and Psychological Well-being of Female
Volleyball Coaches of City of Tehran
Zahra Rezazad1, 2, Hamid Janani1, 2*
RESEARCH
RJSS
JOURNAL OF
SPORT SCIENCES
Vol 3 (2): 39-44
http://www.rjssjournal.com
ISSN: 2148-0834
Copyright © 2015
1Department
of Physical Education, East Azarbaijan Science and Research Branch,
Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
2Department
of Physical Education, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz,
Iran
*Corresponding
Author Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT The aim of this research is studying the relationship between mental
health and psychological well-being of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran.
The current research statistical population includes all female volleyball coaches of
city of Tehran and the number was 925 individuals. 271 individuals were chosen
as the research sample. Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire and Ryff’s
psychological well-being questionnaire were used for data collection. Pearson
correlation coefficient test was used for data analysis. Findings showed that there
was a positive and significant relationship between mental health, psychological
well-being and its dimensions including self-acceptance, positive relations with
others, autonomy, environmental mastery, and personal growth; but there was no
significant relationship between purpose in life and mental health.
KEYWORDS Mental Health, Psychological Well-being, Female Volleyball Coaches.
INTRODUCTION
Sport as a dynamic activity, has a decisive role in maintaining the physical and mental health of human beings.
Having a healthy life requires mobility and sport activities. Awareness of people regarding the desirable effects of
sport activities on different organ systems has resulted in increased tendency toward sport activities. Generally,
sport is performed in two dimensions of professional and public sports. Professional sports are official
competitions and sports as a job; but public sports are related to performing sport activities by all people of the
society which bring about public health. Based on the views of psychologists and experts of the International
Institute of Mental Health, there is a positive relationship between physical activity and mental features. Women as
a huge part of the world’s population are considered as a huge group of athletes. Their sports include all special
tournaments for women whether professional, amateur or public sports in all sports fields. Nowadays women’s
participation in sports has had a significant increase which is under the influence of cultural changes of the societies
emphasizing on gender equality. Active presence of women in sports results in growth and development of societies
and their absence results in lack of progress and growth of the society. Thus for playing this sensitive role by the
women in the society it is necessary to perform physical and sport activities along with achieving a healthy body
and spirit while increasing the speed and strength of this positive effect. Volleyball is one of the exciting and
dynamic sports performed by men and women. Teams have coach or coaches leading the team toward their goal.
Coaching is one of the considerable concepts in the sports psychology; because in today’s advanced world no
athlete could have the best performance without having a knowledgeable and powerful coach. Since the coaches
could have positive or negative effects on the living environment of athletes in different levels of championship,
thus the good relationship of the coach with the athlete improves the mental skills and social welfare of athletes and
results in their growth, self-awareness and satisfaction (Moradi et al., 2013). Coaching is considered as a profession
and it has a vital role in physical and psychological welfare of individuals. In addition to creating income and other
financial resources, profession is also a source and indicator of social base, social support, life satisfaction and selfidentity; yet the profession could also have adverse effects on employees. One of the stressful professions is
coaching. During the recent years surveying the health status and professional dimensions of coaching has been at
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Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (2), 39-44, 2015
the center of attention in several researches. Due to daily interactions of coaches, athletes, colleagues and
permanent and incoherent demands of coaching, and overwhelming pressures, challenges are made for
them that may result in producing some physiological, psychological and behavioral outcomes including
fatigue, depression and indifference to work. These factors which threaten the mental health of coaches
are not only displayed at individual levels in the form of mental symptoms but also have effects and
outcomes on the personal life and workplace of the coaches (Habibi et al., 2009). Sports coaches have an
important role in providing the athletes’ mental health and they have a tremendous effect on selfconfidence, self-esteem and the relationships of athletes with others. Coaches who do not have the ability
positively interact with others (athletes) and do not have sufficient proficiency on sports environment,
suffer from stress and anxiety and encounter problems in social interactions. Lack of self-confidence and
self-determination affects the coaches’ performance and results in failure. Inflexibility of coaches’ mind
prevent them from reaching their personal growth and development and being initiative; as a result
providing mental health for the athletes is disrupted. The concept of health has been mentioned since the
human appearance in the middle ages and aeon; but usually when talking about health it means the
physical dimension. It could be said that one of the important dimensions of health is mental health.
Based on the definition provided by the experts of the WHO, mental health is the capability of harmonious
relationship with others, reforming the personal and social environment and logical, fair and appropriate
method of resolving conflicts and personal interests. Mental health has an important role in guaranteeing
the efficacy of each community (Habibi et al., 2009). Health is a multidimensional concept that in addition
to being sick or disable, also includes sense of happiness and well-being. Most psychiatrists, psychologists
and mental health researchers ignore the positive aspects of health (Seligman, 2003). Although efforts
made for moving away from traditional patterns of health have provided the base for considering health
as a state of welfare (not merely the absence of disease), they are not enough. New patterns of health also
significantly emphasize on negative effects and their health measuring tools usually survey physical
problems (mobility, pain, fatigue, sleep disorders), mental problems (depression, anxiety, worry) and
social problems (disability in performing social role, marital problems) (Ryff, 1989). During the recent
years regarding the works of Seligman and Seligman’s colleagues in psychology, a movement called
positive psychology has been created. In this field, concepts such as positive emotions, happiness, selfconfidence, vitality, optimism, and social adaptability are surveyed (Seligman, 2003; Carr, 2004; Barlow,
2006). Thus the current research tries to answer this question that is there a significant relationship
between mental health and psychological well-being of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran or not.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The research method was descriptive-correlative. The statistical population includes all female volleyball
coaches of city of Tehran and the number was 925 individuals. Based on Morgan table 271 individuals
were chosen as the research sample. The predictor variable was mental health (physical symptoms,
anxiety, social impairment, depression) and the criterion variable was psychological well-being (selfacceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, personal
growth). At the research implementation stage after providing the introductory explanations regarding
the research measuring tools and aim of conducting the research the method of answering was fully
explained to the participants. Regarding the ethical considerations, after gaining their testimonial and
providing the necessary awareness they were assured that the received information would be only used
in this research and they would be protected from any sort of abuse. The following questionnaires were
used for measuring research variables:
General health Questionnaire (GHQ): This questionnaire was provided by Goldberg and Hillier in 1978.
It includes 28 questions measuring 4 sub-scales of physical symptoms, anxiety, social impairment, and
depression. Rating is based on a 5-degree (1-5) Likert scale. In all items the lower degrees indicate health
and higher degrees indicate lack of health of individual. Lower scores indicate higher mental health.
Psychological well-being Questionnaire: This questionnaire has been designed by Ryff in 1980. In this
research the 84-question form has been used. This questionnaire measures 6 sub-scales of selfacceptance, positive relations with others, autonomy, purpose in life, personal growth and environmental
mastery. Each question receives a point (1-5). Higher scores indicate better psychological well-being. The
validity of questionnaires was confirmed by professors and experts. Conducted surveys in Iran show that
the validity and reliability of GHQ is between 0.84 and 0.93. Researchers’ survey with the research sample
indicated Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.80 for this questionnaire (Pirkhaefi, 2012). In the current
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Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (2), 39-44, 2015
research the reliability of GHQ with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.92 was confirmed. Also the
reliability of components of mental health with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was: physical symptoms 0.88,
anxiety 0.71, social impairment 0.79 and depression 0.86.
Dierendonck (2005) reported that the internal consistency of sub-scales of psychological well-being is
appropriate and reported that their Cronbach’s alpha was between 0.77 and 0.90. Schmutte and Ryff
(1997) reported that the internal consistency of psychological well-being was between 0.82 and 0.90. In
this research the reliability of psychological well-being questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of
0.88 was confirmed. Reliability of components of psychological well-being was: self-acceptance 0.84,
positive relations with others 0.82, autonomy 0.76, environmental mastery 0.89, purpose in life 0.91 and
personal growth 0.91. For achieving the stability, questionnaires were distributed among 20 individuals
from the population and after a 10-day time interval the questionnaires were redistributed among them.
Correlation coefficient between the pre-test and post-test scores was used for surveying the stability; for
GHQ it was 0.90 and for psychological well-being questionnaire it was 0.89. Pearson correlation
coefficient was used for data analysis. All analyses were conducted at significance level p<0.05.
RESULTS
Table 1 shows mean and standard deviation of research variables. According to table 1, scattering
distribution of importance of mental health was around 3.77±0.512 and regarding the median amount
(2.5) it is above the average level. Descriptive statistics of each factor related to mental health based on
the range mean achieved show an average level for each of the evaluated items. The highest mean was
related to the dimension of physical symptoms (3.74±0.676) and the lowest mean was related to the
dimension of anxiety (2.84±0.467). Scattering distribution of amount of psychological well-being was
around 3.7±0.541 and regarding the median amount (2.5) it is above the average level. Descriptive
statistics of each factor related to psychological well-being based on the range mean achieved show an
average level for each of the evaluated items. The highest mean was related to dimension of autonomy of
coaches (4.04±0.610) and the highest mean was related to the dimension of personal growth of coaches
(3.53±0.353).
Table 1. Descriptive statistics of research variables.
Variable
Mental Health
Physical Symptoms
Anxiety
Social Actions
Depression
Psychological Well-being
Self-Acceptance
Positive Relations with
Others
Autonomy
Environmental Mastery
Purpose in life
Personal Growth
No. of Respondents
271
271
271
271
271
271
271
271
Mean
3.770
3.74
2.84
3.534
3.148
3.670
3.793
3.813
SD
0.512
0.676
0.467
0.353
0.582
0.541
0.562
0.557
271
271
271
271
4.044
3.614
3.67
3.534
0.610
0.634
0.728
0.353
Kolmogorov-Smirnoff test results showed normal data distribution (p>0.05). Pearson correlation was
used for surveying the relationship between mental health and psychological well-being and its
components. According to the table 2, the results showed that correlation coefficient between mental
health and psychological well-being of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran is significant (P<0.01);
which means that by increasing variable of mental health, the variable of psychological well-being
increases. In other words, there is a positive and significant relationship between mental health and
psychological well-being of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. There is a significant relationship
between mental health and self-acceptance status of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran (P<0.01).
Thus by increasing the self-acceptance variable the variable of mental health increases. In other words,
there is a positive and significant relationship between mental health and self-acceptance status of female
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Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (2), 39-44, 2015
volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. There is a significant relationship between mental health and positive
relations with others in female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran (P<0.01). Thus by increasing variable
of positive relations with others, the variable of mental health increases. In other words, there is a
positive and significant relationship between mental health and positive relations with others in female
volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. Correlation coefficient between mental health and autonomy status
of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran shows that (r=0.227) there is a significant correlation
(P<0.01) between these two variables; and also the positive coefficient indicates changes toward
increasing one variable with the increase of another variable. Thus by increasing the variable of
autonomy the variable of mental health increases. In other words, there is a positive and significant
relationship between mental health and autonomy status of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran.
According to the table, the correlation coefficient between mental health and purpose in life of female
volleyball coaches of city of Tehran shows that (r= 0.151) there is no significant correlation (P= 0.013)
between these two variables. In other words, there is no significant relationship between mental health
and purpose in life of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. According to the table the correlation
coefficient between mental health and personal growth status of female volleyball coaches of city of
Tehran shows that (r= 0.316) there is a significant correlation (P<0.01) between these two variables; and
also positive coefficient shows changes toward the increase of one variable with the increase of another
variable. Thus by increasing the variable of personal growth the variable of mental health increases.
Correlation coefficient between mental health and environmental mastery status of female volleyball
coaches of city of Tehran shows that (r= 0.378) there is a significant correlation (P<0.01) between these
two variables; and also positive coefficient indicates changes toward increasing one variable with the
increase of another variable. Thus by increasing the variable of environmental mastery the variable of
mental health increases. In other words, there is a positive and significant relationship between mental
health and environmental mastery status of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran.
Table 2. Results of correlation analysis between mental health and psychological well-being.
Mental
Health
*At
r
p
Psychological
Well-being
Selfacceptance
0.473*
0.000
0.249*
0.000
Positive
relations
with
others
0.263*
0.000
Autonomy
Purpose
in life
Personal
growth
Mastery
status
0.227*
0.000
0.151
0.053
0.316*
0.000
0.378*
0.000
level p<0.05 the difference is significant.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The aim of conducting this research was surveying the relationship between mental health and
psychological well-being of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. Results showed that there is a
positive and significant relationship between mental health and psychological well-being of female
volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. The current research results are consistent with research results of
Arrindell et al (1999), and Mami et al (2012). In surveying the relationship between mental health and
psychological well-being Arrindell et al (1999) concluded that increasing mental health results in
increasing psychological well-being. Psychological well-being requires understanding the existing
challenges of life. Psychological well-being approach surveys the observed growth and development
toward the existing challenges of life and it severely emphasizes on human development. In a research
titled surveying the relationship between mental health and psychological well-being among the female
university students of Islamic Azad University, Mami et al (2012) concluded that the more the mental
health of individuals the more their psychological well-being will be.
According to the theory of George & Landerman (1984), the relationship between mental health and
psychological well-being is reported to be positive and significant. Also there is a positive relationship
between mental health and self-acceptance status of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. The
current research results are consistent with research results of Bayani et al (2008). The component of
self-acceptance means having a positive attitude toward one’s self and one’s past life. If the individual
generally feels satisfied in evaluations, talents, capabilities and activities and if when one thinks about the
past feels satisfaction, that individual will have desirable mental function. All human beings try to have a
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Res. J. Sport. Sci. Vol., 3 (2), 39-44, 2015
positive attitude toward themselves despite their limitations; this attitude is self-acceptance (Springer,
2006). Surveys show that self-acceptance is one of the most important well-being criteria and it is defined
as one of the main features of mental health and also self-actualization, optimal performance and
development (Ryff, 1989; Keynes, 1995; Springer, 2006). Other results showed that there is a positive and
significant relationship between mental health and positive relations with others in female volleyball
coaches of city of Tehran. The current research results are consistent with research results of Bayani et al
(2008). The ability to love is considered as one of the main components of mental health and positive
relations with others is shown by the help of features such as having warm, satisfactory and reliable
relationships with others, sensitivity toward the welfare of others, high empathy and interpersonal
intimacy (Ryff, 1989, Keynes, 1995; Springer, 2006). In a research titled optimal welfare (psychological
well-being), Ryff concluded that one of the positive results of optimal welfare (psychological well-being)
is good understanding of life. Good life has these features: Quality of individuals’ relations, positive
feelings, flexibility, realizing potential abilities, and life satisfaction. There is a positive and significant
relationship between the mental health and autonomy in female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. The
current research results are consistent with research results of Bayani et al (2008). Experiencing
independence or self-sufficiency, the ability to deal with social pressures and acting based on the
individual solutions and self-evaluation are achieved through personal criteria. Component of autonomy
refers to the sense of independence, self-sufficiency and freedom of norms. An individual who can make
decisions based on thoughts, feelings and personal beliefs, has the autonomy feature.
In fact, the individual’s ability to cope with the social pressures is related to this component (Ryff, 1989;
Keynes, 1995; Springer, 2006). There is no significant relationship between ental health and purpose in
life of female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. The current research results are inconsistent with
research results of Bayani et al (2008); and this could be due to the difference in statistical population.
Having a clear understanding of the purpose in life, and sense of direction and purpose is the foundation
of mental health. The component of purpose in life is having long-term and short-term goals in life and
giving meaning to them. A goal-oriented individual show interest toward the activities and events of life
and effectively gets involved in them; however, this research has not reached this result. There is a
positive and significant relationship between mental health and personal growth of female volleyball
coaches of city of Tehran. The current research results are consistent with research results of Bayani et al
(2008). The component of personal growth refers to the openness toward new experiences and having
continuous personal growth. Individuals with this feature always try to improve their personal life
through learning and experiencing. Developmental perspectives consider mental health and physical
health of experience of continuous individual growth as one of the main components of definition of
mental health. This scale is also determined by the help of features such as continuous growth, accepting
new experiences, experiencing self-evolution and evolution in behavior over time and emphasis on
evolution based on experiencing self-meditation and effectiveness (Ryff, 1989, Keynes, 1995; Springer,
2006). Also, there is a positive and significant relationship between mental health and environmental
mastery in female volleyball coaches of city of Tehran. The current finding is consistent with researches
of Bayani et al (2008). Environmental mastery is the individual’s ability to choose or create appropriate
environments with good mental conditions as one of the other features of mental health. Environmental
mastery is determined through sense of competence in the management of surroundings, control over a
complicated set of external activities and effective and efficient use of created opportunities. Regarding
what has been noted, the active participation of individuals in environmental mastery is considered as
one of the important elements and the reflection of positive psychological action of the individual (Ryff,
1989; Keynes, 1995; Springer, 2006). The prerequisite of mastery of coaches on the sports environment
and athletes is self-esteem and autonomy. Regarding the positive and significant relationship between
mental health, self-acceptance, autonomy and environmental mastery it is suggested to provide the
necessary solutions for increasing the mental health and increasing the self-esteem, autonomy and
environmental mastery.
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