Generative Artificial Intelligence and Mental Well-Being of University Students. A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Based- Analysis

Drugs and substance use among university students has been recognized as a global public health issue. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to drugs and substance use (DSU) including addiction. This study sought to determine the burden of DSU among university students in Kenya. The study utilized a cross-sectional study design covering a representative sample of 17 public and private universities in Kenya. A total of 15,678 respondents were covered by the study. Data showed that 54.2% of the students were male and 45.2% werefemale while 0.6% did not state their sex. Accordingly, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and khat were the most available and accessible substances within the university environment and in the neighbourhood. Cannabis was the most commonly accessible narcotic drug with an emerging trend in the availability of cannabis edibles. The findings also showed a new trend in the availability of emerging Burden of Drugs and Substance Use among University Students in Kenya psychoactive substances within the university environment particularly methamphetamine, prescription drugs, codeine syrup, ecstasy/ gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB)/ lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)/ psychedelics, ketamine, and morphine. The findings also showed that 45.6% of university students in Kenya had used at least one drug or ubstance of abuse in their lifetime. Analysis on past-month use showed that 26.6% of university students were currently using at least ne drug or substance of abuse. Findings on individual drugs showed that alcohol was the most widely used substance with a past month prevalence of 18.6% followed by tobacco (12.0%), cannabis (10.7%), khat (10.2%), inhalants (4.3%), prescription drugs (2.2%), heroin 1.7%), cocaine (1.6%), codeine (1.4%), methamphetamine (1.4%), ecstasy/ GHB/ LSD/ psychedelics (1.3%) and ketamine (0.1%). Findings lso showed a high burden for severe alcohol use disorders (8.7%) among university students. The study therefore concluded that niversities in Kenya were not drug free environments and a three-pronged intervention strategy focusing on the university management, arents and students was recommended.

Purpose: To establish the influence of television’s testimonial advertisement technique on sports betting among the university students in Kenya.
 Methodology: The study used a mixed method design. In this case a convergent parallel mixed methods design was used to ascertain the relationship between testimonial advertising and sports betting among the university students in Kenya. Piloting was done to check on validity and reliability of the data collected. This was then followed by data collection where the collected data was subjected to diagnostic test to check if the data were normally distributed. Descriptive survey and inferential statistics were used in the analysis. The regression model was used to find out the correlation between testimonial advertising technique and sports betting among university students in Kenya.
 Findings: This study found out that there was a positive influence of testimonial advertising on sports betting among university students in Kenya.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This study was grounded on elaboration likelihood model (ELM). This model was developed by Petty et al. (1983). The core assumption of the model is that in communication, there are two routes namely; central route and peripheral route (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986). The study thus recommends that proper policies should be enacted to regulate betting advertisements in Kenya. On its contribution to practice, the study calls on the universities to come up with alternative activities that the students can engage in during leisure time to prevent them from sports betting. In addition, policy makers should consider implementing laws to control betting activities in the country. Consequently, the advertisers should remind the public that betting can be additive thus they should bet responsively.

Purpose: To find out the influence of Television’s persuasive messages on sports betting among university students in Kenya. Methodology: The study employed a mixed method design. Both qualitative and qualitative data were used. Descriptive survey strategy was also used to gather and analyze data with the aim of understand the patterns, behaviors, and attitudes related to television’s message appeals and sports betting among university students in Kenya. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. A regression model was employed to identify the relationship between the variables. Findings: The study established a strong relationship between message appeals and sports betting among university students in Kenya. The initial results, without moderating variables, yielded an R-squared value of 0.152. This indicates that 15.2% of sports betting could be explained by message appeals alone. However, when the moderating variable (media literacy) the R-squared value increased substantially to 0.431. This meant that, in the presence of the moderator, 43.0% of sports gambling was accounted for by message appeals. Furthermore, the p-values in both models were less than 0.05, ascertaining that the relationships were statistically significant. The study arrived at the conclusion that message appeal had a strong impact on betting patterns among university students in Kenya. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study was guided by Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). The core assumption for this model is that there are two routes in communication process namely central route and the peripheral route (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986). As of the central route the consumer of the relayed message actively processes it then makes judgement based on rational evaluation of the message content, such as the quality of arguments and supporting evidence. In peripheral route the receiver does not expend the cognitive energy to evaluate the arguments but is rather guided by peripheral cues (Akpan, Nda & Nketa, 2015). Advertisers will only meet their expectations when the consumers engage through the peripheral route.

This study sought to determine the extent to which social media influence the academic performance among university students via smart learning as a mediator. A positivism research philosophy and cross-sectional survey design guided the study. A convenience sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 458 respondents. Primary data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Partial least squares-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the structural model and determine the direct connections between the different constructs. The results establish that social media has a positive and significant effects on academic performance and smart learning environment ((β = 0.396, t = 6.568, p < 0.000; β = 0.576, t = 8.923, p < 0.000) respectively). Simultaneously, smart learning environment had a positive and significant direct effect of academic performance among university students (β = 0.646, t = 9.75, p < 0.000). The study concluded that social media significantly influenced the academic performance of university students in Kenya. The study recommends that, university policy-makers need to prioritize investments on social media platforms and enhance smart learning environment within the institutions of higher learning. This can be achieved by deliberately allocating substantial resources towards adoption of the appropriate educational technological innovations, faculty technological skills development and enhancement of digitization of university academic services.

This study sought to determine the extent to which social media influence the academic performance among university students via smart learning as a mediator. A positivism research philosophy and cross-sectional survey design guided the study. A convenience sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 458 respondents. Primary data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Partial least squares-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the structural model and determine the direct connections between the different constructs. The results establish that social media has a positive and significant effects on academic performance and smart learning environment ((β = 0.396, t = 6.568, p < 0.000; β = 0.576, t = 8.923, p < 0.000) respectively). Simultaneously, smart learning environment had a positive and significant direct effect of academic performance among university students (β = 0.646, t = 9.75, p < 0.000). The study concluded that social media significantly influenced the academic performance of university students in Kenya. The study recommends that, university policy-makers need to prioritize investments on social media platforms and enhance smart learning environment within the institutions of higher learning. This can be achieved by deliberately allocating substantial resources towards adoption of the appropriate educational technological innovations, faculty technological skills development and enhancement of digitization of university academic services.

Purpose: The intention of this research was to establish the influence of language use in Comedic movies on attitudes towards sexual orientations of University students in Kenya. Comedic movies explore and depict contentious topics among them sexual orientations such as lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders-LGBTs. Comedians often use sarcasm and stereotypes for comicality purposes. This research used social learning theory (SLT).
 Methodology: Mixed methods research design that also used a convergent parallel mixed method model to get quantitative and qualitative data were used. The targeted population was University students from 7 main, chartered public and private Universities in Nairobi County. A sample size of 467 students was used. Multi-stage sampling of respondents was done using probability sampling techniques involving stratified sampling and simple random sampling. Additionally, a focus group discussions involving 30 FGDs participants were used. Further, content analysis using a comedic movie, Modern Family that contains sexual orientations contents was conducted. Data was then analyzed and presented using inferential statistics, descriptive, correlation, regression and ANOVA analysis.
 Findings: The findings showed that comedic movies use laughter to introduce and eventually influence attitudes towards sexual orientations of University students in Kenya. Specifically, most of those sampled agreed that nowadays there are more comedic movies using positive language while describing sexual orientations. Relatedly, a majority of those sampled agreed that they have become more tolerant and accepting of sexual orientations/LGBTs after watching comedic movies containing sexual orientations. The findings also noted that there is a significant number of University students who openly admitted to be LGBTs.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Media has a role in influencing the youths’ attitudes towards sexual orientations. Language use in comedic movies had a significant relationship with attitudes formed towards sexual orientations/LGBTs. This was also linked to the increased open and more positive debates and discussions of sexual orientations/LGBTs, their challenges, predicaments and rights in Kenya. Therefore, the language used in the comedic movies was noted to have a significant role in influencing the attitudes towards sexual orientations of the University students in Kenya.

The objective of the study was to determine the influence of brand management practices, corporate image, and customer characteristics on customer satisfaction among university students in Kenya. The study was founded on three theories namely: Customer based brand equity model, expectation confirmation theory and consumer utility theory. The study adopted descriptive research design, the target population comprised of students fromall 70 universities registered and accredited to operate in Kenya, with a population of 443,783 students enrolled for various undergraduate degree programmes from which a sample of 384 students was drawnstudent’s characteristics in public and private universities tend to differ significantly. The study used a multistage sampling procedure that involved two stages. The first stage was sampling 30% of the universities in each category using a simple random sampling method. The second stage used systematic random sampling, selecting every 5th student entering the main gate of the main campus of the selected university. Purposeful sampling was applied strategically to ensure equitable distribution of respondents based on gender, the program enrolled and the year of study. This helped reduce biasness and ensured fair representation. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis. The study revealed there was a joint effect of brand management practices, customer characteristics and corporate image on customer satisfaction in university students in Kenya with R2=0.308; p-value= 0.000. Brand management practices were found to influence customer satisfaction more in the private individual owned and private institutional owned than in public universities, with R square of 0.149, 0.312 and 0.423 respectively. Similarly, corporate image was found to have a stronger moderation effect on the relationship between brand management practices and customer satisfaction in private institutional owned universities as compared to the private individual owned and public universities, with R2 of 0.671, 0.440 and 0.213 respectively. The study recommends that policy can be developed that encourages inculcating brand management practices within universities in Kenya. Policy can be developed to encourage measurement and reporting of performance along brand management practices as used in this study.

The purpose of the study was to investigates the relationship between generative artificial intelligence (GAI), academic performance (AP) and smart learning environment (SLE) as a mediator. A convenience sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 456 respondents. Primary data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Partial least squares-structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyse the structural model and determine the direct connections between the different elements. The results establish that generative artificial intelligence has a positive and significant influence on smart learning environment and academic performance (β = 0.523, t = 10.178, p < 0.000); β = 0.387, t = 7.353, p < 0.000 respectively). Simultaneously, smart learning environment partially mediates between the generative artificial intelligence and academic performance among university students (β = 0.06, t = 1.19, p < 0.234). The results of this study contributes to the current academic discourse on technology-enhanced education by showing that generative artificial intelligence have a positive impact on students’ academic performance.

Mental well-being is the very foundation for emotions, cognition and communication. Mental well-being and mental illness are correlated entities and thus mental well-being should be addressed holistically. Psychological stress, especially chronic stress, can impact one’s health and mental well-being. Dentistry in particular is often said to be highly stressful. This paper aimed to discuss the available literature on mental well-being amongst dental undergraduate students including the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress, sources of stress, coping strategies and intervention programs. Evidence from this review showed that dental students often had high levels of stress, and also a high prevalence of depression and anxiety which contributed to lower mental well-being in this population. The main sources of stress were mostly academic and clinical factors. Dental students had different coping mechanisms. Social support was found to be a significant factor when coping with stress. Initiatives to bring about improvement of mental well-being and to help students manage stress also showed promising results. Although many studies examined mental health among dental students, most of the studies are cross-sectional in design and were mainly focused on assessing students according to the symptoms they display, e.g. depressed or non-depressed, with very few studies giving focus on the mental well-being of the students. Very little attention was given to students who are 'well' but at risk of developing poor mental well-being. Thus, it is recommended that further research focuses on mental well-being and early intervention measures so as to prevent possible mental health deteriorations.

Purpose: This research intended to determine the influence of character roles in Comedic movies on attitudes towards sexual orientations such as lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs) of University students in Kenya. Comedic movies have exploited and portrayed various controversial topics including LGBTs using satire, irony, sarcasm, and stereotypes for humor purposes. The study used social learning theory (SLT) as the underlying proposition.
 Methodology: The study used mixed methods research design that further used a convergent parallel mixed method model to obtain quantitative and qualitative data. It targeted University students sampled from 7 main chartered public and private Universities in Nairobi County. A sample size of 467 students was used. Focus group discussions involving 30 FGDs participants were also involved. Further, content analysis of the Modern Family comedic movie containing sexual orientations contents was also done. Inferential statistics used were descriptive, correlation, regression and ANOVA analysis.
 Findings: The study revealed that indeed comedic movies use humor to introduce and thus influence attitudes towards sexual orientations of University students in Kenya. For instance, majority of the respondents agreed that there are more comedic movies containing positive sexual orientations character roles contents which eventually influenced the attitudes towards sexual orientations of University students in Kenya. Additionally, a majority of the respondents agreed that they are more tolerant and accepting of sexual orientations/LGBTs because of watching comedic movies containing sexual orientations. The study also noted that there is an increasing number of University students who openly admitted to be LGBTs.
 Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: This study identified the media’s role in changing the youths’ attitudes towards sexual orientations. Evidence from media contents and societal occurrences, indicated that such sexual orientations are no longer hidden. Also, there have been increased open discussions of LGBTs plights and rights in the Kenyan media recently. Therefore, media contents in Kenya have become a ready platform through which contents with these sexual orientations have been exposed to the broader audience. However, the study also noted that this exposure has been met with diverse views splitting opinions with some opponents being homophobic.

The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and the ubiquity of social media have become transformative agents in contemporary educational ecosystems. The spotlight of this inquiry focuses on the nexus between AI and social media usage in relation to academic performance and mental well-being, and the role of smart learning in facilitating these relationships. Using partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) on a sample of 401 Chinese university students. The study results reveal that both AI and social media have a positive impact on academic performance and mental well-being among university students. Furthermore, smart learning serves as a positive mediating variable, amplifying the beneficial effects of AI and social media on both academic performance and mental well-being. These revelations contribute to the discourse on technology-enhanced education, showing that embracing AI and social media can have a positive impact on student performance and well-being.

Purpose: To establish the influence of Television’s celebrity endorsement advertisement technique on sports gambling behaviour among the university students in Kenya.
 Methodology: This study employed mixed method design. In this case, convergent parallel mixed methods design was employed to evaluate the effects of Television’s celebrity endorsement advertisements on sports gambling behaviour among the university students in Nairobi County, Kenya. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected at the same time after which the findings were integrated with an aim of generating overall results. Descriptive survey strategy was also used in the study. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Diagnostic test was first done to ascertain if the data used were normally distributed. As for this case, the following tests were conducted; skewness and kurtosis, histogram and normality plot curve, Kolmogorov Smirnov and Sharpiro Wilk test and Q-Q plot. Other tests included outlier test, collinearity diagnostics, correlation analysis, multicollinearity, autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity/ homoscedasticity and linearity test. The relationship between the variables was determined using a regression model.
 Findings: This study found out that there was a significant relationship between Celebrity endorsement and sports gambling behaviour among the university students in Nairobi County. In summary, technique of celebrity endorsement in television’s gambling advertisements had a positive influence in gambling activities among university students in Nairobi County.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study was embedded on the theory of planned behaviour. The core assumption of the theory is that there is a connection between beliefs and behaviour. In this case, the intention for a behaviour intent is influenced by three issues namely; assessment of the behaviour, apparent social pressure to perform or ignore a behaviour and the perceived degree of personal privilege concerning the behaviour (Dawkins and Frass, 2005). On its contribution to practice, the study calls on the universities to come up with proper sensitization programs to prevent the students from addictive gambling. The study further recommends that proper policy should be put in place by advertisers to provide clear messages on the dangers associated with addictive sports gambling. The overall findings will help policy makers to formulate policies that will control betting activities in the country.

An increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students from migrant and refugee backgrounds are enrolling in schools in the West. These students are exposed to challenges that may influence their mental health and wellbeing. At the same time, schools tend to play a critical role in promoting these students’ social relatedness through a sense of support, connectedness, and an adaptation to the new setting. The aim of the study was to assess the role of social relatedness in promoting mental wellbeing. Resilience was hypothesized as a facilitator process enhancing the relationship between social relatedness and the mental wellbeing of CALD students. Recently arrived CALD students (N= 221) enrolled at a specialised high school in Australia completed a battery of measures assessing: social support, school connectedness, acculturation, resilience, and mental wellbeing. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the three social relatedness factors (social support, school connectedness, and acculturation) were related to mental wellbeing. However, their variance decreased when resilience was added. Mediation analyses indicated that resilience was a partial mediator for the relationship between each of the social relatedness elements and mental wellbeing. Resilience was also shown to play a significant role in the relationship between social relatedness and mental wellbeing. School-based mental health services for CALD students from migrant and refugee backgrounds may benefit by further understanding the unique factors that influence the mental wellbeing of children.

There is a rapid growth in internet use in Kenya and especially among university students. This puts them at risk of becoming pathological internet users. This study sought to establish the relationship between depression and pathological internet use among university students in Kenya. The study used correlational design to establish the relationship between the variables. The target population was university students in Kenya. Convenience sampling was used to sample students from one public university and one private university. A total of 400 respondents participated in the study. Young’s Internet Addiction Test and Beck Depression Inventory were adapted to measure pathological internet use and depression respectively. Davis’ cognitive model of pathological internet use provided a theoretical basis for the study. Percentages and measures of central tendency were used to describe the data. The findings revealed a prevalence of 16.8% of pathological internet use and a prevalence of 23.6% of depression. Independent samples T-test was used to test for differences in pathological internet use between male and female students. The findings revealed that female students were likely to be pathological internet users compared to male students. Pearson’s product moment correlation was used to establish the relationship between depression and pathological internet use and it was found that a weak positive relationship existed between depression and pathological internet use. Based on the findings, it was concluded that there was need to identify and help the affected students exercise moderation and self control when using the internet in order for them to achieve their academic and lifetime goals. The findings of the study also provide empirical evidence on the gender differences in depression and pathological internet use which may be useful in improving counseling interventions for university students.

Purpose: This paper traces the place of the nature of programmes in Kenyan media and their influence on Kiswahili growth among university students studying journalism in Kenyan universities. Three fundamental concerns were on focus here; Length of programs; language in programs and the type of Programs.
 Methodology: The study used mixed method design to obtain qualitative and quantitative data. It targeted University students sampled from 4 public Universities in Nairobi County. A sample size of 327 students was used. Focus group discussions involving 32 participants were also involved. Four Swahili experts were interviewed to get expert opinion. Multi-stage sampling design was used to select the sample for the survey. This sampling technique was appropriate because the study sample was selected in stages using stratified random sampling and simple random sampling technique. Purposive sampling was used to collect qualitative data. The tools used to collect data were questionnaire for quantitative data, interview schedule for key informants and interview guide for focus group discussions. These were to help to assess the influence of the nature of programmes in media organizations on the growth of Kiswahili among university students in Kenya. The study triangulated quantitative and qualitative data to give results shared in this paper. Data was then analyzed using SPSS (version 20) statistical program. Inferential statistics used were descriptive, correlation regression and ANOVA. Data was presented using tables.
 Findings: Findings show that nature of programmes has a significant effect on the growth of Kiswahili.For instance, majority of the respondents agreed that the length of Swahili programs in media have made them develop positive attitude toward Kiswahili. Additionally, they agreed that the nature of language used in presenting Swahili programmes makes them use correct grammar. The study also noted that the respondents agreed that the types of programs have significant influence on their Swahili vocabulary.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Social Learning Theory posits that learning takes place in a social context through observation or direct instruction. People learn the tenets of language through these various types of programmes which carry instructions and are observable. For the Behaviorist Theory of Language Development focus is on objectively observable behaviors where learning is acquired based on environmental conditions (McLeod, 2016). Language acquisition, use and growth has been as a result of emulating what is going on around the learner. The Cultivation theory that suggests television is responsible for shaping or cultivating viewer conceptions of social reality has it that TV viewing affects the language development of children through role modeling where children always want to behave like the characters they see and end up developing language aspects such as pronunciation, intonations and vocabulary like those of the TV and Radio presenter believing that that is the way the world is.For practice and policy media literacy to practitioners has been found to be a necessary educational tool for them to understand the type of media content to interact with if they have to grow their language capabilities. There is need to increase knowledge of risks involved in use of hybrid Kiswahili. While this is so language policy should encompass organizing workshops and seminars for the youth to sensitize them on proper language.