Abstract:

To live well and work well are central pillars of the good life. Within the university context, career wellness, which refers to satisfaction with one’s career choice and the perceived capacity to engage in skills development, is equivalent to working well. Living well could be equated to emotional and intellectual wellness. The concept of emotional wellness refers to life satisfaction and the capacity to engage constructively with emotions in addressing life challenges. Furthermore, intellectual wellness entails the ability to engage one’s mind in mentally stimulating activities. As a logical corollary, one would expect that students who report high career wellness would also report high emotional and intellectual wellness levels. Understanding the relationship between career wellness, emotional wellness, and intellectual wellness is vital to ensuring adequate support to first-year university students. However, limited research has investigated the relationship between career wellness, emotional wellness, and intellectual wellness.

This paper reports on a correlational study investigating the relationship between career wellness (independent variable), emotional wellness, and intellectual wellness (dependent variables). Participants were 1500 first-year South African university students. The university’s Research Ethics Committee, where data were collected, approved the study (Reference number: REC2019/11/003). Correlational analysis revealed significant positive associations between the variables. Regression analysis indicated that career wellness predicted emotional wellness and intellectual wellness.

The results offer convincing evidence concerning the importance of career wellness among first-year university students. The role of student support units in promoting career wellness to promote emotional and intellectual wellness is discussed. Suggestions for applied student support and further research are provided. Finally, a case for the importance of career wellness concerning the good life is presented.

Keywords:

Career wellness, emotional wellness, intellectual wellness.