Towards the Development of Human Capital: Preliminary Results on a Study on Well-being Among Tertiary Students in Melaka, Malaysia
Abstract
Economic development is intimately linked to human resource development. People who can improve themselves fast and efficiently successfully deal with life's problems and challenges, including those who are in tertiary education. Therefore, their stress level is an indicator of the well-being of our future leaders. This study investigates the various factors that can affect tertiary students' well-being. This preliminary research involves collecting data from higher education institutions in Melaka, with 191 completed responses. The findings were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation, and correlation. Findings show that 62.8% of respondents experience low stress, while 37.2% report high stress. Key stressors include time pressure, academic dissatisfaction, and subject matter issues, with financial and social factors also contributing to stress levels. However, relationships and environmental factors appear to have a lesser impact on their stress levels. Based on the correlation coefficient, stress level (dependent variable) does not relate to single variables. Most variables have a moderate correlation with the other variables. The study's findings show that tertiary students in Melaka do not experience alarmingly high levels of stress, but several factors do affect them. Therefore, well-being must be prioritized to ensure the best human capital can be created, as it represents future leaders and a skilled workforce. Recommendations are made for policy adjustments to address stress factors, providing human capital development for sustained national progress.
Downloads
References
Beiter, R., Nash, R., McCrady, M., Rhoades, D., Linscomb, M., Clarahan, M., & Sammut, S. (2015). The prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and stress in a sample of college students. Journal of Affective Disorders, 173, 90–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.10.054
Borjas, G. J. (2010). Human Capital. In Labor Economics (5th ed., p. 236). McGraw-Hill, Irwin.
Bouchrika, I. (2024). 50 Current Student Stress Statistics: 2024 Data, Analysis & Predictions. Research.Com. https://research.com/education/student-stress-statistics
Cambridge Dictionary Online. (2024a). Stress. Cambridge University Press. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/stress
Cambridge Dictionary Online. (2024b). well-being. Cambridge University Press. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/well-being
Hefner, J., & Eisenberg, D. (2009). Social Support and Mental Health Among College Students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 79(4), 491–499. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016918 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016918
Hernández-Torrano, D., Ibrayeva, L., Sparks, J., Lim, N., Clementi, A., Almukhambetova, A., Nurtayev, Y., & Muratkyzy, A. (2020). Mental Health and Well-Being of University Students: A Bibliometric Mapping of the Literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(June), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01226 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01226
Indra, G. H., Radyani, A. M., & Oriza, I. I. D. (2021). The Relationship Between Stress and Well-being: The Mediating Roles of Students’ Psychological Flexibility and Loneliness During the Coronavirus Pandemic. Psychological Research on Urban Society, 4(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.7454/proust.v4i1.63 proust.ui.ac.id DOI: https://doi.org/10.7454/proust.v4i2.100
Kamruzzaman, M., Hossain, A., Islam, M. A., Ahmed, M. S., Kabir, E., & Khan, M. N. (2024). Exploring the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among university students in Bangladesh and their determinants. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 28(January), 101677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2024.101677 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2024.101677
Krejcie, R. V, & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size For Research Activities. Educational And Psychological Measurement, 30, 607–610. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308
McConnell, C. R., Brue, S. L., & Macpherson, D. A. (2010). Labor Quality : Investing in Human Capital. In Contemporary Labor Economics (9th ed., p. 86). McGraw-Hill, Irwin.
Misra, R., & McKean, M. (2000). College students’ academic stress and its relation to their anxiety, time management, and leisure satisfaction. American Journal of Health Studies, 16(1), 41–51.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.57.6.1069
Rynke Douwes, Janneke Metselaar, Gerdina Hendrika Maria Pijnenborg, & Nynke Boonstra. (2023). The well-being of students in higher education: The importance of a student perspective. Cogent Education, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2190697 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2023.2190697
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2009). Research Methods for Business Students (5th ed.). Pearson Education Limited.
Schober, P., & Schwarte, L. A. (2018). Correlation coefficients: Appropriate use and interpretation. Anesthesia and Analgesia, 126(5), 1763–1768. https://doi.org/10.1213/ANE.0000000000002864 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1213/ANE.0000000000002864
State Economic Planning Unit Melaka. (2024). Data Asas Melaka.
Todaro, M. P., & Smith, S. C. (2012). Human Capital : Education and Health in Economic Development. In Economic Development (11th ed., p. 359). Addison-Wesley.
Wang, C., Yan, S., Jiang, H., Guo, Y., Gan, Y., Lv, C., & Lu, Z. (2022). Socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyles, social support quality, and mental health in college students: a cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14002-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-14002-1
Williams, G. M., Pendlebury, H., Thomas, K., & Smith, A. P. (2017). The Student Well-Being Process Questionnaire (Student WPQ). Psychology, 08(11), 1748–1761. https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2017.811115 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2017.811115
World Health Organization. (2024). Promoting well-being. 2024. https://www.who.int/activities/promoting-well-being#:~:text=Well-being is a positive,social%2C economic and environmental conditions.
Copyright (c) 2024 Suhaida Mohd Amin, Nor Shahrina Mohd Rafien, Norraeffa Md Taib, Azhana Othman, Siti Nurulhuda Ibrahim
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Author (s) should affirm that the material has not been published previously. It has not been submitted and it is not under consideration by any other journal. At the same time author (s) need to execute a publication permission agreement to assume the responsibility of the submitted content and any omissions and errors therein. After submission of revised paper in the light of suggestions of the reviewers, the editorial team edits and formats manuscripts to bring uniformity and standardization in published material.
This work will be licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) and under condition of the license, users are free to read, copy, remix, transform, redistribute, download, print, search or link to the full texts of articles and even build upon their work as long as they credit the author for the original work. Moreover, as per journal policy author (s) hold and retain copyrights without any restrictions.
