Mental Health Status and Academic Performance Among Undergraduate University Students During Post COVID-19

Abstract

Human lives have been significantly impacted by the global COVID-19 epidemic. Worldwide implementation of the lockdown was necessary during the first wave of the pandemic to stop the virus' spread. Students had experienced mental health problems as a result of adjusting to the changes. Many researchers looked at students' mental health before the massive COVID-19 outbreak, but they hardly ever looked at situations like those during the endemic. As a result, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the mental health status of undergraduate students at universities, the differences in that status between genders, and the connection between that status and academic performance. The study employs the quantitative research design. Students' mental health was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) developed by Cohen et al. (1983) to measure perceived stress among students. Survey method was used to collect the data from 142 undergraduate students voluntarily from public and private universities in Malaysia. The results show that there are only minor mental health issues among students, with female students reporting higher levels of stress than their male counterparts. Additionally, there is no connection between students' academic performance and their mental health. Also provided are a few ideas for additional study.