An Assessment of the Mental Health of Accountancy Students

Roselyn P. Degamo
Department of Accountancy and Finance
College of Commerce

Abstract

This study aims to assess the Mental health of Accountancy

students. Recognizing that a lot of studies were conducted about
different factors affecting mental health of college students but none
has checked the overall mental health of students taking up Bachelor
of Science in Accountancy. The participants were drawn from the third
year accountancy students from the University of San Jose - Recoletos.
Findings showed that the respondents are assessed as having a good
mental health amidst stress. This result was due to poor utilization of
available resources which was counterbalanced by a proper
management of stress, thus, having an overall assessment of being
mentally well.

Keywords: Mental Health, Accountancy Students, Goal Orientation, Time Management,

Academic Stress, Academic Pressure, Burnout
I. Introduction

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2014), mental health is a

state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, copes with the
normal stresses of life, works productively and fruitfully, and makes a contribution to his
or her community. Moreover, the state of mind is an integral and essential component of
a person’s health leading to the growth and realization of his goals and abilities. Being
exposed to academic challenges does not only exhaust an individual’s physical abilities
but also his/her mental abilities. Since mental health is often associated with academic
performance, it is important to gauge the mental health of an individual. This study aims
to assess the mental health of the Accountancy students.
Mental health is about how one feels about himself/herself, others, and also how
he/she is able to meet the demands of life. Mental health may impact the development
and productivity of people, and will ultimately affect a person’s life at home, at work and
with others (Eisenberg, Golberstein, & Hunt, 2009). According to Uy, Alenton, Zanoria,
& Etulle (2017), an accountancy student has to endure four to five years of highly
technical groundwork and skills development in preparation for an exhaustingly difficult
licensure examination; current trends implemented among higher educational institutions
include the imposition of cut-off grades and conducting qualifying level exams.
Consequently, the student may not be able to handle the pressures of these expectations
(Carveth, Gesse, & Moss, 1996).
 This study aimed to consider student mental health among the accountancy
students. Although, most of the people are aware that there is a study that inspected
burnout levels of accountancy students conducted by Uy, Alenton, Zanoria, & Etulle,
2017, but none that checked the overall mental health of accountancy students. But
according to Christina Maslach, PhD, (2013), burnout is predictive of depression.
Moreover, burnout and depression has been found to have a massive overlap of
symptoms, including sleep change, fatigue, and anhedonia—the inability to find pleasure
from activities usually found enjoyable (Bianchi & Boffy, et al., (2013). Despite the fact,
burnout is still debated and not yet classified as a distinct condition in the bible of official
disorders, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
Having no clear relationship between the mental health of accountancy students to
their degree program, it is still an issue that the research intends to solve. To answer such
gap, it is vital to look into the academic requirements that the degree program entails such
as the departmental examinations, annual qualifying and comprehensive examinations,
and the cut-off grades. By looking into the effects of such academic related demands,
information that could give answers to the issue on the relationship of the accountancy
program to the mental health of the students may be obtained.

Conceptual Framework

Relationship between Time Management to the Mental Wellness of an Individual

This study is somewhat related to a 2014 research conducted by Maria Sarmento

from the University of Aveiro entitled “A Mental Health Profile of Higher Education
Students.” In this study, one variable connected to mental wellness is having a good skill
in time management. Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising
conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to
increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. The management of time is an issue
which is fundamental to job performance, and how a worker manages his/her time will
depend literarily on his/her favorable or unfavorable attitude towards time which will
invariably influence his/her perceived job performance in an organization. It has been
proven that there is a significant relationship between time management and job
performance. Thus, it is hypothesized that time management can significantly affect the
mental wellbeing of accountancy students. Shown below is the relationship of time
management to job performance (Ahmad, Mohd, Shobri, & Wahab, 2012)

Table 1. Correlations between time management and job performance

Time Management Job Performance

Time Management Pearson Correlation 1 .344**
Sig. (2-tailed) .008
N 59 59
Job Performance Pearson Correlation .344** 1
Sig. (2-talied) .008
N 59 59
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
Table 1 shows the correlations between time management and job performance.
Based on the table, there is a significant relationship between time management and job
performance.

Relationship between Goal Orientation and Job Performance to the Mental Wellness of
an Individual
Another relationship to be assessed before arriving to the assessment of the
mental wellness of students is the relationship of goal orientation to job performance. It is
suggested that a learning orientation positively influenced working hard and working
smart at much higher levels than performance orientation. (Chakrabarti, Barnes, Berthon,
et al., 2014).

An important theory that correlates goal orientation to wellbeing is the Self-

Determination Theory (SDT). According to SDT, optimal performance and well-being
occur when the three basic psychological needs are fulfilled. The three basic
psychological needs include relatedness, competence, and autonomy. Relatedness refers
to developing meaningful connections and feeling accepted by others. Competence
involves a sense of self-efficacy, and autonomy refers to the degree that one’s behavior is
self-regulated and free from external influence. SDT posits that these needs (i.e.,
relatedness, competence, and autonomy) are more likely to be satisfied when individuals
are autonomously motivated to achieve intrinsic goals compared to extrinsic goals (Ryan
& Deci, 2000). In addition, it is suggested that the presence of intrinsic goal orientation,
regardless of extrinsic goal orientation, results in optimal well-being outcomes. This
finding provides support for SDT as the pursuit of intrinsic goals was linked to optimal
well-being outcomes (Niemiec et al., 2009; Sheldon et al., 2004; Vansteenkiste et al.,
2008; Williams et al., 2000). Further, some of the well-being outcomes improved with
greater levels of intrinsic goal orientation. (Sonneborn, 2017) With this regard, goal
orientation is used as a positive hypothesis in the study.
Relationship between academic demands and accounting students’ mental health.

College life is undeniably challenging and difficult. It may be due to demands

from tertiary education and employers seeking only the best graduates which
consequently result to more pressures and problems for students. As cited by Khalid et al.
(2016), a student may experience mental health problem due to academic related
demands such as transitions to university, demands of various tasks by lecturers, getting
essential skills; the student may not be able to handle the pressures of these expectations
(Carveth, Gesse, & Moss, 1996). Given that only qualified and highly competent
individuals are licensed to practice the accountancy profession, institutions offering
Bachelor of Science in Accountancy program are in no doubt placing extremely
exhausting academic activities and trainings in order to prepare the students for the CPA
Licensure Examination. This, however, puts the students in predicament. Therefore, a
second hypothesis is generated that academic demands significantly affect the accounting
students’ mental health.

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

Relationship between stress and accounting students’ mental health.

Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands

exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize (Lazarus
&Folkman 1984, as cited by Hou, Shinde, & Willems, 2013). Accordingly, stress is
highly prevalent among college students which might be brought by different factors such
as academic requirements, financial difficulties, peer pressure, etc. Stress is viewed to
affectthe students’ life in various ways. As mentioned by Chien (2015), students indicate
having more days of poor mental health when stress levels are high (Pedersen, 2012) and
higher levels of stress were also found to impact symptoms of anxiety, depression, and
suicidal ideation (Dyson & Renk, 2006). Hence, this may affect the students’ ability to
function well in an academic setting. Despite being popular and the topmost choice
degree program, Bachelor of Science in Accountancy is visibly difficult and tough to
attain. Students taking such degree undergo challenging tasks and extensive trainings
which can be very stressful. As such, this study aims to find evidence to support the
hypothesis that accounting students experience a high level of stress which can have an
inverse effect on their mental health as well as on their academic performance.
Relationship between burnout and accounting students’ mental health.

Burnout is a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and reduced

personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who work with people in
some capacity (Maslach, Jackson, and Leiter, 1996, as cited by Uy et al., 2017). In
connection with this, recent studies found that burnout occurs among accountancy
students. According to Uy et al. (2017), students in the accountancy program
experienced an alarmingly high level of burnout in the dimension of reduced personal
accomplishment; that the students feel less empowered and less confident in their
academic undertakings. Thus, the researchers seek to answer whether or not burnout
affects the accounting students’ mental health and whether or not it has a negative impact
on their academic performance.

II. Methodology

Research Design

The participants were drawn from the third year Accountancy students of the
University of San Jose-Recoletos. Survey questionnaires were given to a population of
109 undergraduate students. This sample population consisted of 70 female and 24 male
students and 15 respondents abstained as presented below in Table 2. The researchers
observed that it is during the third year life of an accountancy student where too much
pressure was built due to the demands of the degree program such as cut off grades for
the six major subjects and qualifying exams to name a few.
Table 2. Gender distribution under the sample population

Population Percent Valid Percentage

Male 24 22% 22%
Female 70 64% 64%
Missing 15 14% 14%
Total 109 100.00% 100.00%

A 100% sampling was applied in this study by the researchers. Out of the 109
survey questionnaires given, 94 were duly completed and returned, giving an 86% return
rate. Due to the unmatched time by the researchers and the respondents, the researchers
asked the class representatives from the three (3) block sections to give the survey
questionnaires to their classmates. Also, it was returned to the researchers a day after it
was given. This procedure was found to be efficient since it is easier for the students to
complete the questionnaire during their vacant time.

The researchers designed a survey questionnaire as one of the data collection

instrument for this study with the questions patterned after the questionnaire of Agolla
(2008). The survey questionnaire is one-page long with control numbers indicated on the
upper left corner. The survey aimed to assess the mental health of the accountancy
students. The questionnaire was divided into 2-parts; symptoms of stress and other
variables. The instrument used was structured in the Likert Scale with a 4-point scale.
The first part was symptoms of stress which consisted of seven items measured with 1=
Never; 2= Sometimes; 3= Often and 4= Always. The scales are interpreted as follows:
Never= the respondents did not experience it even once; Sometimes= the respondents
experienced the symptoms once or twice; Often= thrice to fifth times; Always= More
than five times. The second part consisted of negative and positive variables for assessing
their mental health measured with 1= Never True; 2= Sometimes True; 3= Often True; 4=
Always True. The scales are interpreted as follows: Never True= it never happened to the
respondents; Sometimes True= it happened once or twice; Often True= it happened thrice
to fifth time; Always True= it happened at all times.

Furthermore, the over-all mental health is assessed using the negative and positive
variables. As for the negative variables, the average weight with a range of 1.0 to 2.50
means that the respondents have a good mental health and 2.51 to 4.0 means that they
have a poor mental health. As for the positive variables, the average weight with a range
of 1.0 to 2.50 means that the respondents have a poor mental health and 2.51 to 4.0
means that they have a good mental health.

III. Results and Discussion

The aim of this study was to test the following research questions; what are the
common symptoms of stress among Accountancy students? To what extent do students
experience stress? What are the most common stressors among Accountancy students?
The analysis was purely done quantitatively.
The analysis was done by calculating the weighted percentage of respondents who
gave a high rating symptoms and stressors. The results indicate that students do
experience stress related symptoms as shown in Table 3 below. The weighted result of
responses indicates that students have sometimes experienced anxiety, or nervous or
having indigestion problems. The finding is consistent to earlier study (Agolla, 2009).
Our finding reflects that, most of the students are experiencing stress in their daily
academic activities. Students pointed out that, people at home or in the campus
sometimes make them feel anxious about their daily lives. This finding is in agreement
with the study of Nekoranec, J., & Kmosena, M. (2015) that identified conflicts at home
 and in work environment as one source of individual stress. This indicates that students
experience a lot of pressure from home or campus which impact either negatively or
positively on their daily lives. In response to eating, drinking or smoking, the students
indicated that they sometimes engage in such activities in response to anxiety producing
situations. This finding is consistent with the earlier findings of the scholars (McCarty et
al., 2007) which revealed that, people tend to resort to drinking as coping strategies
whenever confronted with complex situations in their lives.
Table 3. Symptoms of stress among students.

Symptoms of Stress
Weights Quality

Experience anxiety or nervous indigestion 2.39 Sometimes

People at home or at school make me feel anxious 2.35 Sometimes
I eat, drink, or smoke in response to anxiety producing situations 2.12 Sometimes
I feel tense, experience pain in the neck or shoulders, and suffer
2.43 Sometimes
from migraine headaches or having difficulty in breathing
I can't stop thinking about my concerns at night or weekends long
2.88 Often
enough to feel relaxed and refreshed the next day
I have trouble concentrating on what I'm doing because I'm
2.87 Often
worrying about other things
I take over-the-counter medications or prescription drugs to relax 1.38 Never

From Table 3, analysis of the distribution revealed significantly higher symptoms

of the stress in students as indicated. While over the counter medication was weighted to
be the least experienced by the students. Students also indicate that they sometimes feel
tense, experience pain in the neck or shoulders, and suffer from migraine headaches, or
have difficulty in breathing. This indicates that the students responded to such symptoms
of stress that they have experienced. This is consistent with the most findings on stress
(Agolla, 2009). When asked to indicate whether they have stopped thinking of their
concerns at night or weekends long enough to feel relaxed and refreshed the next day, the
students indicated that they often do experience such symptoms. This finding is
consistent with earlier studies (Ongori, 2007; Topper, 2007; Agolla, 2009). Students do
indicate that they often have trouble concentrating on what they are doing, because they
worry about other things. This is in line with the other studies (Elfering et al., 2005;
Agolla, 2008) on stress which also identified trouble concentrating as a symptom. On the
question of whether they are involved in taking over-the-counter medications or
prescription drugs to relax, they indicated that they have never been involved in taking
over- the- counter medications or prescription drugs to relax. This affirms with the
finding of Agolla (2009). It is also an implication that the students do not take to drugs or
alcohol as coping strategies when stressed.
 However, the second part of the questionnaire was to assess the mental health of
the respondents. This result is presented in Table 4 as shown below. The result indicates
that it is often true that they experience continuous poor performance. Whether their
relationships are affected negatively by their academic stress, the students responded that
such is never true. On the question regarding academic workload, they often view
academic workload as stressful. This finding is consistent with earlier findings (Ongori
and Agolla, 2008; Agolla, 2009).
Table 4. Mental health assessment of Accountancy students.

Variables Weights Quality

Negative
Continuous poor performance 2.55 Often True
Unfair treatment of boyfriend/girlfriend 1.53 Never True
Heavy workload 2.90 Often True
Competition between fellow students 2.39 Sometimes True
Not attending lectures 1.77 Sometimes True
Conflict with fellow students 1.79 Sometimes True
Low motivation 2.78 Often True
Conflict with lecturers 2.40 Sometimes True
Uncertainty about getting job after graduation 2.39 Sometimes True
Positive
Proper time management 2.36 Sometimes True
Spare time to enjoy leisure 2.60 Often True
Goal orientation/focus 2.59 Often True
High end-of-term grade point average (GPA) 2.55 Often True
Development and recognition in non-academic aspects 2.38 Sometimes True

The students indicated that they sometimes view getting job after graduating as
uncertain. This finding affirms the study of Kaczynski (2004) that identified the causes of
stress among people as uncertainty about the future. Competition with fellow students
was rated by the participants as sometimes true that it is causing stress. This is consistent
with earlier studies (Ongori, 2007; Ongori and Agolla, 2008) that identified competition
as a source of stress among employees in organizations.
On the question of whether not attending lectures will stress them, the students
indicated that it is sometimes true. The students also indicated that conflict with fellow
students sometimes become a stressor. They pointed out that they are often less motivated
to study. This is consistent with most of the stress studies (Kaczynski, 2004; McCarty et
al., 2007). Conflict with lecturers was seen as sometimes true to cause stress among
students. This is consistent to studies on stress (Goodman, 1993; Murphy and Archer,
1996; LeRoy, 1988; Ongori, 2007; Topper, 2007; Ongori, 2008; Agolla, 2009)
Assessment was also done using positive variables as the basis. Academic stress
sometimes resulted the respondents to achieve proper time management. The students
answered that they still have spare time to enjoy leisure oftentimes. On the statement
whether the respondents possess goal orientation or focus, the students claim to often do.
The respondents agreed that high end-of-term grade point average (GPA) is often
achievable with the presence of academic stress. Whether development and recognition in
non-academic aspects can be attained, the students find it sometimes true.
According to Table 3 as shown above, the Accountancy degree produces
academic stress to the respondents. The probable effects, whether positive or negative, of
academic stress has been used to assess the mental health of the Accountancy students.
The results in Table 5 show that in terms of negative variables, the respondents’ mental
health quality falls under the category of having good mental health. This indicates that
even under the exposure of academic stress, the respondents are able to cope up making
them experience less of its negative results. On the other hand, the assessment in terms of
positive variables resulted to a poor mental health. It implies that the respondents have
not effectively utilized the academic stress to attain positive results.
Table 5. Summary of the mental health assessment of Accountancy students.

Variables Average Weights Mental Health Assessment

Negative 2.28 Good

Positive 2.50 Poor

IV. Conclusion
Based on the foregoing findings, the respondents are mentally well despite having
poor mental health assessment on the other variable. This infers that the respondents’
negative effects of academic stress were properly anticipated and handled resulting to
such positive status. In addition, it implies that they are also having a hard time to
effectively and efficiently manage their available resources and their wellbeing in times
that they are exposed to stress especially in terms of academic pressure. Such result was
primarily caused by lack of proper time management and lack of development and
recognition of non-academic aspects. Thus, the respondents’ poor employment of
available resources was counterbalanced by a proper management of stress. It is further
recommended that the respondents need to boost their positive aspects in their life.
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