Survey: academic pressures main cause of stress, anxiety in students
COVID-19 may be on a downward trend but adolescents are still reeling from the effects of being cooped up at home for months when the pandemic hit in 2020.
There has been a decline in mental health among youths since before Covid-19, said Taylor’s University School of Liberal Arts and Sciences Master of Clinical Psychology senior lecturer and clinical psychologist Dr Sam Jeng Mun, but the trend was exacerbated during the pandemic.
“There were already indications of mental health challenges among youths pre-pandemic but the decline in mental and emotional well-being is highly related to the unpredictable Covid-19 situation, where students were still unsure if they would be learning fully through online platforms or attend physical class, whether they would still need to be cooped up at home, and whether they would still be able to live the life they were used to living.
“Though the movement control order has been lifted and Malaysians are transitioning to the endemic phase, there are still a lot of uncertainties which can cause a decline in emotional and mental health," she told StarEdu.
According to the Student Voice Matters 2023 survey, the top factors contributing to anxiety and stress is the expectation for students to perform academically.
Students rated their anxiety levels at the highest when preparing for exams (average rating of 3.4 out of 5) and the least stressful when socialising with their peers (average rating of 1.9 out of 5).
The survey, carried out by ProjectID involving 1,200 students between 13 to 18-years-old, also found that almost one in five students say their relationship with their parents and siblings are causing them anxiety and stress when it comes to performing academically.
Published in June, the study also found that more than 50% of students cite parents (57%) and peers (55%) as the best supporters of their emotional and mental health.
When asked how parents, teachers and counsellors can better support their wellbeing, students say they wish they could have a listening ear and words of encouragement.
“Additionally, students would prefer less comparisons of academic performance being made between themselves and their peers,” the report read.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Medical Centre Psychiatry Department Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit head Dr Fairuz Nazri Abd Rahman said a problem she often comes across with her patients is the lack of emotional guidance from the parents.
Dr Fairuz Nazri, who is also a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, said this results in the teenager not being able to recognise and manage their own emotions in a healthy way.
“Many end up bottling up their emotions inside and release by harming themselves or participating in unhealthy peer group practices,” she said.
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Faculty of Arts and Social Science Department of Psychology and Counselling assistant professor (psychology) Dr Grace T’ng Soo Ting said addressing emotional and behavioural problems in teenagers requires a multifaceted approach that involves both policy-level interventions and societal changes.
Citing the implementation of policy-level changes to enable parents to spend more time with children, she said flexible work hours or working-from-home options enable parents to seek a good balance between family and work commitments.
“These options allow parents to place more control over their daily schedules. Next, education and awareness programs can be implemented to raise awareness about parent-child interaction via spending more quality time together,” she said, adding that the government could consider encouraging a ‘Family Day’ policy in the private sector to foster a strong relationship between employees and their families.
Education and awareness programmes, she said, could also be implemented to raise awareness about the importance of parent spending more quality time together.
Sam said the pandemic has caused a significant impact on the mental health among youths, where isolation and disruptions of routines happened during the movement control orders, school closures, and restrictions on social activities.
She said students felt “academically stressed” when they started learning online, which presented many challenges including technology issues, difficulty concentrating at home, and a sense of disconnect with the learning environment.
“Youths are capable of understanding the economical struggle and may have experiences strain on their mental health watching their families experience financial challenges due to job losses and economic instability,” she said.
Combine these with the loss of loved ones due to the virus, and the disruptions of daily life, youths were forced to function in an environment of grief, fear, and anxiety.
More teenagers are facing mental health issues, and most worryingly, are suicidal, according to the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2022: Adolescent Health Survey (AHS) 2022.
The Health Ministry report found that feelings of loneliness shot up from 9.3% in 2017 to 16.2% in 2022, while about 27% of those surveyed reported being depressed last year.
The survey, involving 33,523 secondary school students aged 13 to 17, showed that 7.9% of secondary school students admitted to having suicidal ideation.
Almost one in 10 students admitted to either planning, or having attempted suicide, over the course of 12 months last year, with Kuala Lumpur and Labuan recording the highest number of cases.
In conjunction with World Mental Health Day on Oct 10, the World Health Organisation (WHO) stressed that mental health conditions are a significant threat to the wellbeing of young people, affecting one in seven adolescents globally, with depression emerging as a leading cause of adolescent illness and disability.
*Those suffering from mental health issues can reach out to the Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service (03-2935 9935 or 014-322 3392); Talian Kasih (15999 or 019-261 5999 on WhatsApp); or Jakim’s (Islamic Development Malaysia Department) family, social and community care centre (011-1959 8214 on WhatsApp). They can also reach out to Befrienders Kuala Lumpur (03-7627 2929), Befrienders Penang (04-291 0100) or go to befrienders.org.my/centre-in-Malaysia for a full list of numbers nationwide and operating hours, or email sam@befrienders.org.my.
It’s a struggle
"Teens in Malaysia often struggle with overwhelming emotional burdens, what with the constant academic pressure fueled by the competition for top grades and the high stakes associated with standardised exams like the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). The need to meet parental and societal expectations in terms of academic performance adds to the stress. Moreover, teenagers often strive overly hard to fit in with their peers and to navigate the complexities of life. The abrupt shift to online learning during the pandemic has also further resulted in feelings of isolation and digital exhaustion, which some have yet to recover from. Personal and family issues, including conflicts at home or difficulties in personal relationships, adds to the stress."
Kong Yong Sin, 15
"Many people believed that once the pandemic was over, things would return to normal. It is clear that Covid-19 had a significant negative impact on the mental health of the youths. Not knowing what the future holds and the lack of socialising with friends buried fear and anxiety deep inside. Getting used to change takes a lot of effort and it can be tiring. Teens were expected to get used to the sudden change with little care bout their mental state and a lack of understanding about what it would take for them to adapt. And as if the weight of coping with change wasn't enough, we had to catch up with our studies. It was a constant headache that we had to face daily. And that's one of the reasons why many of us, not only in Malaysia, but worldwide, felt stressed and depressed."
Shasmeen Amirah, 17
