Effect of Mental Health and Resilience to Student’s Study-Life Balance
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Abstract
Positive mental health and resilience determine how best individuals cope with stressful situations throughout life stages. This research seeks to find out the effect of mental health and resistance to students’ study-life balance. Most scholars have found out that a person’s resilience determines how the individual will react to stressful occurrences, and this type of reaction also affects the mental wellbeing of the individuals. This research study will employ a quantitative research design to gather data that the researcher will utilize to derive the findings of the research. Study questionnaires will be issued to select understudies and few tutors at the university level to offer insight into the research problem and statement. Data collected from the population of the study will be synthesized and presented using tables and graphs. An elaborate discussion of the research findings will generate possible recommendations to determine intervention measures that can enhance the level of resilience and positive mental health to undergraduate students in Malaysia.
Keywords: Resilience, Peer attachment, Risk, School connectedness
Abstract 2
Effect of Mental Health and Resilience to Student’s Study-Life Balance 4
Effect of Mental Health and Resilience to Student’s Study-Life Balance
Mental health and resilience affect an individual’s perceptibility to cope with life, and it is up to the individuals to derive good in bad situations or perish alongside the stress factor. People encounter difficult situations through life, and these occurrences imprint in their brain cells for a long time, sometimes for a lifetime (Bhatti et al., 2020). Research shows that when such occurs, some individuals find it easy to recover and start over. In contrast, others dwell on the traumatic experience longer than desirably economic or beneficial to the person’s social life. Barry (2018) stated that the ability to withstand stressful situations and soldier on with life is what resilience is all about. Resilience is bracing on through life with a brave face despite the challenges one encounters (Holden et al., 2017). Mental health, on the other hand, is described by Amen (2020) as psychological health problems and disorders that affect human thinking, individuals’ moods, as well as behavior. As such, this research paper aims to find out the interrelation between mental health and resilience, and how the two impact undergraduate students in Malaysia in their pursuit of higher education.
Background of the Problem
Life at university can offer a range of opportunities, but it can also be a stressful time for students. The students face significant stressors for an extended period, which, in turn, causes social, occupational, and cognitive impairments that negatively impact academic progress (Williamson et al., 2018). One of the possible reasons that cause mental health problems is an increase in academic workload as the students advance in their educational journey. Stress can result when the amount of perceived internal and external pressures seem unfeasible for students to cope with, and this overstrains ones to deal with the activity at hand.
When stress is present over a long period, it can become chronic to the mental health of the individuals. This prolonged exposure to stressful environments can cause cognitive impairments that negatively affect a student’s memory and learning capacity and can further impact a student’s mental wellness (Pashang, Khanlou & Clarke, 2018). Moreover, academically related stressors are related to pressure regarding academic performance and the conflict concerning which professional career to choose after graduation (Seaward, 2017). Oldfield et al. (2018) suggested that resilience can influence how fast and especially how effectively an individual returns to a state of stability after a stressful event or a series of those events.
The most prevalent depictions of mental health problems include depression, schizophrenia and addiction, disorders relating to anxiety and panic attacks, and eating disorders (Brewer et al., 2019). Though the problems might be temporal and recurring, people should not discard concern for mental health should not be at any time as the human brain is crucial to human thinking and behavioral conduct. The two aspects control human living and interrelation within society, and any impairment to the logical and rational thinking process is a threat not only to the victims but those around (Pashang, Khanlou & Clarke, 2018). Early professional intervention is necessary whenever the people witness the onset of psychological stress and mental dysfunction amongst members in the community.
Problem Statement
Rapidly developing lifestyles with fast-paced and dynamic technological advancement and social structures have a significant bearing on the lives of students at the university. Higher learning institutions have a conglomerate of diverse cultures and mental capabilities from the students, tutors, and administrators. As such, such a high profile learning environment might be strainful to some select individuals. Therefore, depending on students’ approach and response to life adversity, and the way they cope and adapt to its continuous demands, it will determine their overall health mentally, physically, and socially.
Recent studies reflect a high level of stress, anxiety, and depression among adolescents and young adults. World Health Organization (WHO) mentioned that 10% to 20% of adolescents are at risk of mental health (NIMH, 2016). However, some students can manage their life and their demands in a healthy balanced approach without compromising their mental health. It is due to such factors that this researcher concerns with the impact of mental health and resilience to undergraduates’ ability to cope with academic pressure without negatively impacting their educational and social lives.
Objectives
General Objectives
This study aims to find out how mental health and resilience affects students’ study-life balance at the learning institutions. The research will utilize the perspective of students’ from Malaysian universities as the case study to inform on the research findings.
Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of the research study are as follows;
- To find out the level of resilience in university students in Malaysia.
- To find out if there exists a correlation between resilience and mental health.
- To determine intervention measures to enhance the level of resilience and positive mental health to understudies in Malaysia.
Research Questions
- What is the level of resilience amongst university students in Malaysia?
- Is there a correlation between resilience and mental health?
- What are the prominent interventions that can aid undergraduate to enhance their level of resilience and positive mental health?
Significance of the Study
This research study is of particular importance to a variety of persons and stakeholders. Members of the society will utilize the study findings to know how best to cope with undergraduate students facing stress and pressure from their study workload, and by so doing, become a part of the solution to alleviate mental stress to understudies. Students as well as will utilize this research to know the nature and medium through which they find studies stressing and hard to cope with, and this will enable them to tackle the stress factor instead of avoiding the causative factor of stressful study workload.
Moreover, policymakers in the education sector will use the research findings to formulate policies and legislations that will steer educational resources towards the concept of stress in education. Teachers, parents, and guardians alike will utilize the results of this research to identify the onset of mental illness related to studies. Together with the remedial intervention measures that the investigation will propose, this group of persons will jointly work towards helping students cope with their education and have meaningful social lives.
References
Amen, D. G. (2020). The end of mental illness: How neuroscience is transforming psychiatry and helping prevent or reverse mood and anxiety disorders, ADHD, addictions, PTSD, psychosis, personality disorders, and more. Tyndale Momentum.
Barry, H. (2018). Emotional resilience: How to safeguard your mental health. Spring.
Bhatti, I. I., Kalsoom, T., & Batool, T. (2020). The effect of resilience intervention on levels of optimism. sjesr, 3(1), 57-66. https://doi.org/10.36902/sjesr-vol3-iss1-2020(57-66)
Brewer, M. L., van Kessel, G., Sanderson, B., Naumann, F., Lane, M., Reubenson, A., & Carter, A. (2019). Resilience in higher education students: a scoping review. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(6), 1105-1120. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1626810
Holden, K. B., Hernandez, N. D., Wrenn, G. L., & Belton, A. S. (2017). Resilience: Protective factors for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder among African American women. Health, Culture and Society, 9, 12-29. http://hcs.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/hcs/article/view/222/279
National Institute of Mental Health (2016). Major depression among adults. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/major-depression-omamong- adults.shtml.
Oldfield, J., Stevenson, A., Ortiz, E., & Haley, B. (2018). Promoting or suppressing resilience to mental health outcomes in at risk young people: The role of parental and peer attachment and school connectedness. Journal of adolescence, 64, 13-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.01.002
Pashang, S., Khanlou, N., & Clarke, J. (Eds.). (2018). Today’s youth and mental health: Hope, power, and resilience. Springer.
Seaward, B. L. (2017). Managing stress. Jones & Bartlett Learning
Williamson, I., Wildbur, D., Bell, K., Tanner, J., & Matthews, H. (2018). Benefits to university students through volunteering in a health context: A new model. British Journal of Educational Studies, 66(3), 383-402. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2017.1339865