Abstract
Although the numbers of youths entering universities in Malaysia are increasing rapidly, several studies have shown that some students are suffering from poor mental health which could lead them to have experience positive emotions and more negative emotions. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between positive emotion and resilience among UPSI undergraduate students and to examine the difference between male students and female students in positive emotion and resilience. Cross-sectional survey design was applied to gather the data of 140 participants using both paper and pencil method and online survey method. A set of questionnaire comprising demographic information, Dispositional Positive Emotions Scales (DPES) to measure positive emotions and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) to measure resilience was given. Using Pearson’s product-moment correlation analysis, it was found that there was a significant relationship between positive emotion and resilience, r= 0.4. Thus, null hypothesis is rejected. The correlation coefficient obtained showed that there is positive correlation between positive emotion and resilience among UPSI students in which students with more positive emotion are more likely to have higher level of resilience. Based on the t-test analysis, the difference was not significant between male students and female students for both positive emotions and resilience. In conclusion, more positive psychology programs can be conducted to educate the students about good mental health and well-being which will eventually increase their psychological resilience in facing challenges in their university lives.
Highlights
Undergraduate students often experience challenges as the university life is a transition period from late teens to young adulthood in which they need to learn, adjust, adapt or cope with changes in their everyday life (Arnett, 2000; Trigueros et al, 2020)
The study demonstrates a positive correlation between positive emotion and resilience among undergraduate students in which those students who have more positive emotions are more likely to have a higher level of resilience
The findings of the current study found substantial support in the explanation by Denovan and Macaskill (2017) who stated that undergraduate students who are highly resilient apply leisure coping to increase positive emotions in them that eventually improve their overall well-being
Summary
Undergraduate students often experience challenges as the university life is a transition period from late teens to young adulthood in which they need to learn, adjust, adapt or cope with changes in their everyday life (Arnett, 2000; Trigueros et al, 2020). The numbers of youths entering universities are increasing rapidly, past studies showed that the students do not have enough confidence in higher education because they are not able to find what they are looking for in the university, lacking education that they obtained throughout their university life to obtain a job and other social and psychological problems (Wong & Chiu, 2018). They are able to achieve their academic success, Malaysian students are suffering from poor mental health (Mey & Yin, 2015; Ministry of Health, 2016). The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between positive emotions and resilience among undergraduate students of Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI) and to examine gender differences in positive emotions and resilience
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
