Nurturing wellbeing: situational demands, learning behaviour and mental wellbeing among working postgraduate students

Many students are now working while studying at universities. Research on working students has focused mostly on traditional full-time undergraduates who take part-time work. This study investigates the experiences of mature employed postgraduate students, in particular, the combined demands of work and study and their associations with learning and wellbeing. We collected 257 responses to an online survey across three years from two New Zealand universities. Informed by job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, we used regression-based analysis to identify the interplay between perceptions of demands, learning behaviour and mental wellbeing and qualitative analysis to explore what the students consider university educators should do to improve their wellbeing. Regression-based analyses confirmed that: (1) higher perceptions of situational demands were associated with poorer wellbeing; (2) learning behaviour was associated with favourable wellbeing, and; (3) learning behaviour moderated the negative association between situational demands and wellbeing. Qualitative analysis identified student perspectives on having study cater to work-related demands and enable effective learning behaviour. Our work extends JD-R theory to higher education, and demonstrates the interplay between situational demands, learning and wellbeing among mature employed students. University educators who wish to facilitate student wellbeing should consider reducing peripheral demands and enhancing learning-related resources.