ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship among social support,work engagement and mental health in preschool teachers. METHODS: By cluster random sampling method,348 preschool teachers from cities and countryside in Henan Province were selected as study subjects. A questionnaire survey was conducted using the Social Support Rating Scale,the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Symptom Checklist-90( SCL-90) to analyze the relationship among social support,work engagement and mental health. RESULTS: The social support total score,the dimension scores of objective support,subjective support and support utilization were( 40. 90 ± 10. 48),( 8. 93 ± 2. 87),( 23. 79 ± 5. 85) and( 8. 17 ± 1. 94),respectively. The work engagement total score,the vitality,devotion and concentration dimension scores were( 71. 69 ±20. 18),( 24. 91 ± 9. 06),( 21. 44 ± 6. 93) and( 25. 34 ± 7. 58),respectively. The SCL-90 total score was( 1. 85 ±0. 63). Each dimension score of social support was positively correlated with each dimension score of work engagement( P < 0. 01). The SCL-90 total score was negatively correlated with each dimension score of social support and work engagement( P < 0. 01). The 3 dimensions of social support including objective support,subjective support and support utilization had significant direct effect( the standard path coefficients were- 0. 21,- 0. 27 and- 0. 23,respectively,P < 0. 01) on mental health. They also had indirect effect(- 0. 13,- 0. 16 and- 0. 12,respectively) on the mental health through work engagement among preschool teachers which accounted for 38. 00%,37. 00% and 34. 00% of their total effects(- 0. 34,- 0. 43 and- 0. 35,respectively). CONCLUSION: The social support and work engagement are important factors influencing the mental health of preschool teachers. The work engagement acts as a partial mediator between social support and mental health.