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The Relationship between Mental Health and Academic Achievement among

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GlobalIlluminators Publishing FULL PAPER PROCEEDING

Multidisciplinary Studies

Full Paper Proceeding GTAR-2015, Vol. 2, 755-764

ISBN: 978-969-9948-30-5

GTAR 2015

The Relationship between Mental Health and Academic Achievement among

University Students – A Literature Review
Poh Keong, Pua1*,Chee Sern, Lai, 2 Ming Foong3, Che Ibrahim4
1,2,3,4
University Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia.

Abstract

This paper aims at reviewing the relationship between the mental health and the academic achievement for
university students. Mental health well-being helps an individual realises her/his true potentials, capable of
handling pressure and stress, and more importantly, to perform the given tasks productively. In general, the
constructs of mental health are composed of three elements, namely, depression, anxiety and stress. A wealth of
research findings indicate that academic performance is affected by the mental health problems. In order to deal
with this problem, the parents as well as the lecturers play a vital role in ensuring the mental health of the
students is in tip-top condition. Specifically, the discussion in this article puts the focus in the definition of
mental health, and relationship between the elements of mental health and academic achievement among
university students in Malaysia.

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Global Illuminators Publishing. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific & Review committee of GTAR-2015.

Keywords: Mental Health, Academic Achievement, Students

Introduction

In recent years, issues related to mental health are often propaganda in mass media
not only in a country and even around the world. Mental health is a way of thinking, feeling
and behaviour in a person's daily lives. A Person with a healthy mental health can recognize
himself on the ability, willing to accept failure, able to control his/her emotions and
appreciate himself / herself (Madlan, 2004). Mental health may deteriorate and its negative
effects will affect the daily lives without treatment.

755
*All correspondence related to this article should be directed to Muhammad Sufyan Abdurrahman,Telkom University, Bandung, Indonesia..

Email: puapohkeong@yahoo.com

© 2015 The Authors. Published by Global Illuminators Publishing. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific & Review committee of GTAR-2015.
 Poh Keong, Pua /GTAR-2015/Full Paper Proceeding Vol. 2, 755-764

Mental health issues often occur among students and create a negative impact on
students. The phenomenon of mental health problems and mental illness are increasing in the
coming year. According to the findings of National Health and Morbidity Survey (2011)
conducted by the Ministry of Health Malaysia, a total of 1.8 % is faced with depression and
1.7 % experienced anxiety among the adults. In additions, that study also found that mental
health problem among children and adolescents have increased from 19.4 % from year 2006
to 20.0 % in year 2011. Furthermore, the report by the World Health Organization (WHO,
2005) mentioned that issues of mental health are expected to increase with 15 % in the year
2020 and the adolescents are in the highest risk group who might be experiencing this
problem.

The findings by the National Morbidity Survey 2011 also showed that, 1.7 % of the
respondents had suicidal thoughts, 0.9 % had planned to commit suicide, and 0.5 % had
attempted suicide. Apart from that, there are around 5 % of Malaysian population have
contracted Common Mental Disorder (Krishnaswany et al., 2012). These statistical numbers
reveal that the mental health problem among the Malaysian population is becoming
increasingly critical and worrying. Worse still, the percentage indicated above is inclusive of
university students who are the future leaders of the country. Lower or poor of mental health
level will lead to increased rates of suicide if it not carefully taking care of from the
beginning. Therefore, it is important to raise the awareness of mental health illness and to
promote positive mental health practices among Malaysians (Maharjan, 2012).

Mental Health Definition

There are various definition of mental health. Differences of culture, evaluation, field
of subjective and professional theory have an influenced on mental health is defined. For
instance, mental health is defined by Parameshvara, (2010) as a state of perfect, including not
merely the absence of disease or disorder but also the presence of factors such as life
satisfaction, self-acceptance and social contributions. Whereas World Health Organization
(2001) defines mental health as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or
her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and
fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.

According to Abdul Ghani, (2013), mental health is a prosperous state in which an

individual is aware of his own abilities, can handle pressure well, can work productively and
able contribute to society. This means that mental health as the fundamental to the well-being
of individuals and ability of society's to function more effectively. In short, mental health
based on the definition by Abdul Gahni (2013), is the expression of emotion and symbolizes
the ability to adapt to various pressures and demands of life.

By referring to the Malaysian Mental Health Policy, mental health is regarded as the
ability of an individual or groups to interact with one another in order to generate a feeling of
peace optimal function and to utilise the ability of cognitive/intellectual, affective/emotional,
and human networking to achieve the goal of the individuals or groups (Abd Kadir, 2014).
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Therefore, mental health is associated with the promotions of well-being, prevention

mental disorder, treatment and rehabilitation that are affected by mental disorders.

All in all, although the definitions of mental health are diverse, there are similarities
among them. For example, most definitions did mention that mental health consists of the
components of emotion, intellectual and ability to perform well. To put it the way round,
mental health can be seen as a state of emotional wellbeing, understanding and knowing
himself/herself, ability to facing, coping and overcoming any challenges either internal or
external in lives, can perform assignment or project productively and efficiently, lastly ability
to contributing to the country.

Constructs Of Mental Health

A mental health model introduced by Clark and Watson (1991) show that depression,
anxiety, and stress are the main contributing factors to the mental health and these factors are
overlapping between one another (Clark, 1989). The development of mental health model has
helped researchers strengthen and deepen the understanding of the symptoms and the
relationship between stress, depression, and anxiety among adolescents and adults. Therefore,
this study was based on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), to clarify and explain
the effects of the three factors that affect mental health.

Depression

`Depression is a common disorder, but it is a serious and complex disease that affects
nearly 121 million people around the world (MMHA, 2008). According Sarason & Sarason
(2002), depression may involve feelings of sadness (Wick-Nelson & Israel, 2003), weak,
frustrated, desperate, helpless and hopeless experienced by individual. Some of the symptoms
experienced by depressed individuals are low level of mood and dissatisfied with anything
happens around them. Most students who are depressed do not perform well in academic
achievement because the students are not motivated and not daring to do anything to realise
their aims. Furthermore, those depressed students tend to think negatively and do not attempt
to achieve their target. As a result of these harmful behaviours, students continue to be
frustrated and giving up, and thereby causing low academic achievement.

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Anxiety

Anxiety is a physiological disorder associated with significant distress and

impairment of function. It is the relationship between thoughts and feelings that causes the
mental impression of inability to control and predict undesirable events in life (Wilson, et al,
1996). In addition, anxiety can be defined as fears with vague and impulses unclearly know.
Effects of anxiety symptoms perceived as a threat that affects health physical like high
heartbeat, sweating on both sides of the palms, insomnia and behavioural changes. There are
two kinds of anxiety that have been identified by Spielberger et al (1994), such as trait
anxiety and state anxiety. Trait anxiety is personality differences which is relatively stable
especially when an individual does not see any harmful effect from the threats. While the
state anxiety appears due to the perception of a person that presumes a threat might
negatively affect him/her. This is to say that, state anxiety of a person will manifest when
he/she perceives an event or object as a threat to him/her. In general, state anxiety is
subjective in nature and it is characterized by the feelings of anxiety and agitation
consciously followed by presence of a sense of doubt raised by the nervous system. State
anxiety will change over time when a person receives a potentially harmful stimuli and
imagination about the existence of stimulus. In most cases, a person will show different
degree of reactions and responses according to the perceived level of threat of that person. A
number of studies have shown that there is a relationship between anxiety and academic
achievement among university students. Specifically, students suffer from anxiety disorder
often do not perform well in lives and academics.

Stress

Stress is a common problem that is often experienced by everyone in daily life.

According to Sidi and Shaharom (2002), stress is a part of human life since time without
realizing it, therefore, the phenomenon is something unavoidable and it depends on the
person to manage or handle stress well. Each person has a different perception about the
stress and different ways for handling the stress. According to Fontana (1989), the existence
of stress due to the inability of a person to fulfil the demand required and over self-
demanding. From a positive perspective, stress may bring about a favourable impact as stress
can be perceived as a beneficial agent that motivates and encourages an individual to move
forward. There are several factors that can affect the stress and it is closely associated with
the living style, personal characters, urbanization and modernization of culture shock. Stress
also often exits among students especially in the aspects of academics (Shamsuddin, et al,
2013), workload (Tangade et al, 2011), environment and financial resources (Andrew &
Wilding, 2004). Therefore, the stress is one of the contributing factors to mental health, and
then it must be resolved by using a appropriated method to enhance the well-being living of
the student.

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4.0 Relationship Between Mental Health And Academic Performances Of Student

Mental health problem will affect the academic performances student and it will go
from bad to worse if the students do not receive any treatment. The negative effect of mental
health not only on the academic side, but also on their daily life.

Relationship between Depressions and Academic Performances of Student

Results from previous studies reveal that, depression is a common problem among
adolescents (Steinberg, 1999). In addition, according to Petersen et al, (1993), about 7% to
33% of adolescents are facing depression problem depending on the conditions encountered.
Within the context of Malaysia, Shamsuddin (2013) discovered that, students aged between
20 and 24 are most affected by depression. The senior students (age 20 to 24) obtained higher
depression scores compared with their junior students (age 18 to 19). The reason why senior
students experienced higher level of depression was due to increased workload or
assignments during final year of studies. Similarly, a study conducted by Sherina et al, (2003)
also found out that 41.9 % of students in a public institution in Malaysia were faced with
depression problem.

Depression among adolescents should not be underestimated because it will cause a

serious problem if left without early treatment. Student who have depression problem due to
various causes might gain lower learning outcomes. In other words, student’s academic
performance is jeopardised by depression (Zaid et al, 2007).

Fine and Carlson (1994) explained that students are depressed because they have to
accomplish too many assignment and projects and struggle to meet the deadline. As a
consequence, the students are not able to be attentive during lecture and the attendance rate
might become low. According to Fine and Carlson (1994) again, the common symptoms of
depression among students in university are difficulty in concentrating, lack of interest and
motivation and poor attendance. These symptoms actually justify why a depressed students
does not achieve academic performance.

Based on the findings above, it can be concluded that the depression will negatively
affect the performance of students in their academics.

Relationship between Anxiety with Academic Performances Student

Results from the study conducted by Sieber, O'Neil and Tobias (1977) regarding the
relationship between anxiety and student’s academic achievement concluded that anxiety
affect academic achievement for students. Sieber, O’Neil and Tobias (1977) provided some
explanations for their findings as follows:

a) Low ability in observation, learning, problem solving, and remembering influenced

academic achievement due to anxiety problem.
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b) Lower performance to complete the complex task and the students will contract
anxiety if they cannot accomplish the given task.

c) The confusion and difficulty in completing tasks is the major factor that increases the

anxiety level.

d) High level of anxiety cause lower academic achievement. In short, the higher the level

of anxiety, the lower the academic performance of the students.

There are many studies showed that the performance of student in schools, colleges
and universities are affected by anxiety disorder. For instance, Shamsuddin et al, (2013) have
proven that there is a significance negative correlation between anxiety and the achievement
of grades obtained by students. This findings is on a par with what has been discovered by
Sieber, O’Neil and Tobias (1977) who stated that low academic achievement is attributed to
high level of anxiety which undermines the cognitive functions of students.

One of the factors that has an impact on student’s performance is the perception and
experience related to an academic event or object that induces anxiety. As an example,
according to Vogel and Collins (2006), if a student has a negative experience with taking a
mathematics test (e.g., does not pass the test), he/she tends to develop higher levels of anxiety
whenever he/she sit for a mathematics test and, in turn, this bad experience which induces
high level of anxiety will lead to lower performance. Conversely, if the perception or
experience of an individual towards an event is positive, then it will induce lower levels of
anxiety, and thereby leading to higher performance. Therefore, it is important to consider the
factors, such as motives, tendency, cognitive assessment in task, and previous experience
when analysing anxiety and its relationship with performance.

In conclusion, the effect of anxiety is equivocal. If the level of anxiety is too high, it might
negatively influence the academic performance. On the contrary, low level of anxiety might
serve as a motivator to encourage student to put more effort in learning, and in turn, leading
to a higher academic performance.

Relationship between Stress and Academic Performances of Student

Sources of stress among students can be categorised into five components, namely the
academic, personal (Interpersonal), environment, financial issues and time management. This
classification of stress source is supported by Yusof and Azman (2013) who conducted a
study to find out the source of stress among students in higher learning institutions in
Malaysia. The researchers discovered that the students were stressed due to academic,
financial and time management issues. Stress will reach critical level when students fail to
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manage those problems (Gopal, et al., 2010). Therefore, attention should be given to the
aforementioned issues because they are potentially affecting the personality and behaviour of
an individual.

Time management for examination and the demand to get higher grades are likely to
cause high stress among students. The development of stress in a student will prevent to
achieve the learning goals. Therefore, it is essential to motivate and encourage students to
overcome stress using appropriate approach.

According to Azhar (2002), around 25 % to 35 % of the students in Malaysia suffered

from stress because of increasing learning workload, such as accomplishing assignment and
projects. Furthermore, the education system that focuses in examination achievement has
caused stress among students. In order to get a better result in the examinations, attending
tuition classes has occupied the students’ leisure and recreation time. Likewise, Tangade at al
(2011) also asserted that the stress is often caused by heavy workload, where as time for rest
is limited, especially during the final year if studies. Apart from that, family and parents’’ are
also a contributor to the stress of students. Students struggle to live up to their parents’
expectation (e.g., to get first class degree) and this will induce high amount of stress among
students (Ariffin, 2014).

A large number of research show that stress is significantly correlated with academic
achievement. High level of stress has a negative impact on learning. Therefore, it is important
to help students to cope with stress and guide them to the right path. It is noteworthy that
lecturers and parents have to work hand in hand to battle the issue, otherwise the stressed
students will be feeling hopeless, isolated, and left out of society..

Conclusion

Mental health can be conceptualised as an emotional well-being that affected by the

elements of depression, anxiety, and stress. A number of existing research findings have
revealed that there is a relationship between mental health, such as depression, anxiety, and
stress, and academic achievement. Greater awareness on mental health should be promoted
and early diagnosis can prevent mental health problem. All parties should be promoted and
early diagnosis can prevent mental health problem.

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