Objectives: The present study was intended to assess the mental health of nurses working for university hospitals and to establish which factors determine their mental health. Methods: Self-administered questionnaires were given to 1,486 nurses employed in six participating hospitals located in Daejeon City and Chungnam Province between July 1 st and August 31st, 2006. The questionnaire items included sociodemographic, job-related, and psychosocial factors, with job stress factors (JCQ) as independent variables and indices of mental health status (PWI, SDS and MFS) as dependent variables. For statistical analysis, the Chi-square test was used for categorical variables, with hierarchical multiple regression used for determining the factors effecting mental health. The influence of psychosocial and job-related factors on mental health status was assessed by covariance structure analysis. The statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: The factors influencing mental health status among subject nurses included sociodemographic characteristics such as age, number of hours of sleep, number of hours of leisure, and subjective health status; job-related characteristics such as status, job satisfaction, job suitability, stresses such as demands of the job, autonomy, and coworker support; and psychosocial factors such as self-esteem, locus of control and type A behavior patterns. Psychosocial factors had the greatest impact on mental health. Covariance structure analysis determined that psychosocial factors affected job stress levels and mental health status, and that the lower job stress levels were associated with better mental health. Conclusions: Based on the study results, improvement of mental health status among nurses requires the development and application of programs to manage job stress factors and/or psychosocial factors as well as sociodemographic and job-related characteristics.