Available online at GlobalIlluminators Publishing. Full Paper Proceeding GTAR-2015, Vol. 2, GTAR 2015.

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1 Available online at GlobalIlluminators Publishing Full Paper Proceeding GTAR-2015, Vol. 2, FULL PAPER PROCEEDING Multidisciplinary Studies ISBN: GTAR 2015 The Relationship between Mental Health and Academic Achievement among University Students A Literature Review Poh Keong, Pua 1*,Chee Sern, Lai, 2 Ming Foong 3, Che Ibrahim 4 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 The Authors. Published by Global Illuminators Publishing. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific & Review committee of GTAR 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.. puapohkeong@yahoo.com 2015 The Authors. Published by Global Illuminators Publishing. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific & Review committee of GTAR-2015.

2 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 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). 756

3 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. 757

4 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 selfdemanding. 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. 758

5 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. 759

6 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 760

7 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. 761

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