TEKANAN AKADEMIK DAN KAWALAN DIRI TERHADAP TAHAP KESEJAHTERAAN PSIKOLOGI DALAM KALANGAN PELAJAR UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SABAH SEMASA PANDEMIK COVID-19

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that struck countries around the world including Malaysia had adversely impacted various sectors. The education sector was one of the sectors that was severely affected as a result of the closure of schools and universities that had to be enacted. The closure had put interruptions on the routines of students as they were required to adapt to online learning sessions. This circumstance caused students to face several challenges such as increased academic stress, which consequently resulted in decreased levels of self-control and psychological well-being. Thus, this research was conducted to identify the influence of academic stress and self-control on the psychological well-being of University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) students in Kota Kinabalu campus. This research had been carried out to 320 UMS students using a set of questionnaires. The data collected was analyzed by Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. The study found no significant differences between academic stress levels, self-control and psychological well-being of UMS students by gender. In addition, regression (stepwise) statistics show academic stress is a direct predictor of the psychological well-being of UMS students during COVID-19, with a value of F (1,118) = 7.052, Sig = 0.009 <0.05. Based on Beta values, the findings showed (beta = -0.18, t = -2.65, Sig = 0.001 and R² = 0.056). Results showed academic stress contributed 5.6 percent to the psychological well-being of UMS students during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can be concluded that COVID-19 pandemic had pernicious influences on psychological well-being of UMS students. Therefore, future researchers are encouraged to conduct studies related to the factors influencing psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.