Psychological capital, work satisfaction and health self-perception as predictors of psychological wellbeing in military personnel.

BACKGROUND: Worker wellbeing is known to positively impact both the employer organization and the employee. However, the hardship inherent to military life may hinder the achievement of satisfactory levels of worker wellbeing. In this study we aim to address whether psychological capital, work satisfaction and health self-perception are able to predict psychological wellbeing in a military population.
METHOD: A descriptive, correlational study was performed using a cohort of 492 Spanish soldiers by applying multiple linear regression. The resulting regression array between the variables psychological capital, work satisfaction and health self-perception was used to predict psychological wellbeing.
RESULTS: A positive, significative correlation was detected between the variables psychological capital, work satisfaction and health self-perception and psychological wellbeing, altogether explaining up to 53% of the variance of the latter. The most important predictor was psychological capital, responsible for 80% of the predictive power.
CONCLUSIONS: Due to the significant predictive power of psychological capital over individuals’ wellbeing, the development of programs aimed at enhancing psychological capital may have a positive outcome on military personnel’s psychological wellbeing.