Work- life balance and career adaptation as predictors of the mental well-being of school counselors

The purpose of this study is to examine the predictive role of school counselors' work-life balance and career adaptability on mental well-being. In this study, a model that examines the mediating role of career adaptability (career exploration and career planning) in the relationship between work-life balance and mental well-being was tested. The research questions were addressed with Model 4 in the Hayes Process Macro model and analyses were carried out based on Hayes macro bootstrapping. The research study group consisted of 345 school counselors working in public and private schools. The study used Personal Information Form, Warwick-Edinburgh The Mental Well-Being Scale- Short Form, Work-Life Balance Scale, and Career Adaptability Scale as data collection tools. The analyses showed that there were positive and significant correlations between the work-life balance scale and the career adaptation scale, between the work-life balance scale and career planning, and between the work-life balance scale and career exploration. The correlation analyses showed that there were positive and significant correlations between work-life balance and career adaptation, between work-life balance and career planning, between the work-life balance and career exploration, between work-life balance and career planning and mental well-being, and between career exploration and mental well-being. The correlation analysis results showed that there were positive and significant correlations between all the study variables. The results of the parallel multiple mediational analysis show that career exploration and career planning mediate the relationship between work-life balance and mental well-being. In addition, work-life balance, career planning, and career exploration explain approximately 47.35% of the change in mental well-being. In this context, work-life balance and career adaptability have predictive roles in mental well-being.