Unconditional Self-Acceptance and Perfectionistic Cognitions as Predictors of Psychological Well-Being

Psychological well-being which is an important concept for individual mental health involves maintaining meaningful aims in life, developing quality relationships with others and struggling with life to ensure personal development. Based on the importance of the concept of psychological well-being, in this study, it is aimed to determine the predictors of psychological well-being of prospective teachers who are expected to make a contribution in the healthy development of students. A total of 378 prospective teachers have participated to the study which was conducted according to the general screening model. Path analysis was used in the analysis of the data to test the predictive roles of unconditional self-acceptance, perfectionistic cognitions and perceived income levels of prospective teachers on their psychological well-being level. Results indicated that psychological well-being has a positive significance but low correlation with unconditional self-acceptance and perfectionistic cognitions. In addition, it was found that of unconditional self-acceptance, perfectionistic cognitions and perceived income level accounted for 16% of the total variance of psychological well-being. It was also determined that female participants’ psychological well-being scores were higher than males’ and psychological well-being levels of participants who perceived their income level as good were higher than those perceived their income level as medium and low.