Psychological Wellbeing of University Academics: The Role of Personality Traits and Perceived Occupational Stress

This study examined how personality traits (introversion and extraversion) and perceived occupational stress predict psychological well-being among academic staff in a Nigerian university. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted with a total sample of 200 academic staff selected via stratified random sampling across faculties. Standardized instruments were used to measure psychological well-being, personality traits, and perceived occupational stress and hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed that 43.5% of respondents had moderate psychological well-being, 29% had low well-being, and 27.5% had very high well-being. The statistical model used (multinomial logistic regression) was a good fit for predicting outcomes (χ²(12) = 94.22, p < .001; Nagelkerke R² = 0.57). Introverted staff were over three times more likely to report low well-being (OR = 3.21, 95% CI [1.89, 5.44]), while extraverted staff were more than twice as likely to report very high well-being (OR = 2.67, 95% CI [1.42, 5.03]). Staff who experienced moderate levels of stress were four times more likely to report average well-being (OR = 4.03, 95% CI [2.14, 7.59]). A chi-square test also confirmed that stress levels varied significantly across well-being categories (χ²(4) = 21.33, p = .002). These findings suggest that both personality and stress levels are important factors in determining how well academic staff cope emotionally. Supporting staff mental health requires attention to both individual personality differences and workplace stress conditions.