The effect of general health and locus of control on happiness among nursing students: The mediating role of psychological well-being

Introduction:
Happiness is one of the basic components of people’s lives, especially in the educational environment, and it is important to study the factors affecting it. Therefore, the present study aimed to measure the mediating role of psychological well-being in the relationship between locus of control and general health with happiness among nursing students.

Material and methods:
This descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out on 219 nursing students of Fars University of Medical Sciences in southern Iran from October to December 2018 through the convenience sampling method. The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Locus of Control Questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire, and Psychological Well-Being Questionnaire were the tools used to collect the data. Structural equation modeling was applied using AMOD and SPSS software version 25 for data analysis.

Results:
The results showed that the psychological well-being partially mediated the relationship between the locus of control (β = 0.08, p < 0.05) and general health (β = –0.24, p < 0.001) with happiness.

Conclusions:
The results of this research can be used to develop programs aiming at improving students’ happiness. Also, designing programs based on the present study model, while strengthening the general health and locus of control of the students, can lead to their psychological improvement and happiness for them.