Brief description of the paper
This paper aims to give a critical review of the design, purpose, and theories used in writing the scholarly journal titled: Positive Psychology of Malaysian University Students: Impacts of Engagement, Drive, Self-Empathy, and Well-being on Mental Stability. It gives an insight into the extent to which the authors of the journal feel that a gap exists and that needs to be bridged by the use of the Study. It also analyzed the design employed by the authors of the journal and examined the appropriateness of the theory used in writing the journal. Additionally, the paper ascertains the aims of the Study and evaluates the sampling procedure used to obtain results. The paper also analyses the findings of the Study and assesses the suitability of the statistical test used. This paper also outlines the differences that would have been employed had the research been conducted in Aotearoa country.
The extent to Which the Authors Establish the Existence of a Knowledge Gap
The study was necessary because Malaysian students, despite their academic excellence and responsibility for developing the Asian Pacific region, suffered from poor mental stability. Also, the interventions by the Malaysian government were yet to work. Moreover, the percentage of Malaysian students struggling with mental stability was drastically rising, and directly confronting mental stability would not have been beneficial for students who had a bad perception of mental stability. Conversely, the strategy had been proposed as an alternate strategy for reducing mental stability issues among UK students, but none had been done in Malaysia.
Design Employed in the Study
The journal employs a correlational research design to achieve the desired results. This is because the Study aims at exploring the relationship between mental stability and positive psychological variables (Kotera & Ting, 2019). Correlational research design is used to examine the degree to which two or more parameters are connected (Seeram, 2019). In this case, the parameters whose degree of relation is being measured are mental stability and positive psychological variables such as student engagement, drive, self-empathy, and well-being.
Theory Employed in the Article
This study has employed a deductive theory which begins with a broad overview of a subject and then narrows down to details. The Study starts with an overview of the problem, which is mental stability, then narrows the factors influencing positive mental stability to positive psychological variables such as student engagement, drive, self-empathy, and well-being. Additionally, the Study also employs objectivism as a type of epistemology, which asserts that reality is constructed beyond the researcher’s control and should be studied through a proper scientific procedure, as seen Study. Conversely, the ontology approach was employed by the Study as it aided the researchers in determining how confident they may be about the nature of the relationship between the variables studied.
Aims of the Study
The Study aimed to investigate the links involving mental stability and positive psychological variables that included student engagement, drive, self-empathy, and well-being in Malaysian university students. The study further aimed to investigate the comparative contributions made by these positive psychological variables to the mental stability of Malaysian university students. This was because Malaysian university students, notwithstanding their academic excellence and responsibility for developing the Asian Pacific region, were being affected by poor mental stability, and all efforts put in place to remedy the challenges had so far been futile.
Problems with the Sampling Procedures
The researcher recruited students via opportunity sampling from one university and in the humanities field. This does not depict the entire population since opportunity sampling puts a restriction on the generalizability of the results, as it selects just a part of the entire population. Additionally, the researcher opted for cross-sectional studies instead of longitudinal studies. This means that the sample was taken one time from a select group of respondents, and as a result, students on academic break were left out. The limitation of the cross-sectional, as opposed to the longitudinal Study, is that the causal direction of the relationship between the variables cannot be ascertained. A longitudinal study, on the other, is important in identifying the causality among the variables and developing interventions since it collects responses severally from different respondents of the target population.
Validity and Reliability of the Materials Employed in the Study
The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), aimed at assessing the mental stability of Malaysian university students, is a valid and effective tool for assessing symptoms of prevalent mental stability issues. Park et al. (2020), however, note that the ability of DASS-21 to identify stress in teens may be limited, and hence, more research is needed to fully understand these findings. Additionally, the results obtained involved the use of self-report scales that limit the accuracy of the responses of students. This exposed the results to risks of social desirability bias.
The Study notes that the assessment of the engagement was done via the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale for Students (UWESS). This is a relevant scale that was useful since the Study aimed at measuring such variables as the engagement level. In addition, the Academic Drive Scale (ADS) used to assess drive was also relevant as it is a useful tool for measuring an individual’s state of mind. Moreover, the Self-Empathy Scale used to measure self-empathy was also relevant as it weighed the individual’s genuine view of themselves. The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWBS) was also used to analyze the well-being of the students; it was also relevant since the responses reflected the emotional state of the respondents.
Likelihood of replicating the Study
In the methods section of the Study, several analyses, including correlation, multiple regression, and mediation, were performed. It would be possible to replicate the Study using a different set of university students since the Study achieved 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for indirect effects, which shows strong correlation evidence. This means that the positive psychological variables greatly affect the mental stability of students in Malaysia, and this could also be true for students in other places. If the same methods are replicated on a different set of students, there is a high likelihood of achieving similar results, thus validating the research.
Suitability of the Statistical Tests or Analysis Used
- In determining the relationship between mental stability and the positive psychological variables, correlation analyses were performed. These statistical tests are viable since they are used to test relationships between variables like the ones present in the Study. According to the results, the substantial correlates of mental stability projected a large effect magnitude of 47 percent on mental stability.
- The multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the extent to which each variable could explain the variance in mental stability. This is suitable in the scenario since multiple regression analyses are used to evaluate the significance of the association between a dependent variable (in this case, mental stability) and several affecting variables.
- Additionally, a mediation analysis was conducted to ascertain if the mental stability was being mediated by any of the positive variables. This was also in order since this test defines the degree to which a parameter contributes to the transmission of a variation from a causative agent to its consequence.
Main Results of the Study
From the Study, all positive predictor variables, namely, engagement, drive, self-empathy, and well-being, were investigated, and they were all linked to students’ mental stability. These substantial correlates of mental stability projected a large effect magnitude of 47 percent on mental stability. This means that they were all significant predictors of mental stability. Conversely, the dominant predictor was self-empathy. Except for intrinsic drive, mental stability was linked to all of the positive psychological categories. These strong associations were consistent with prior studies and could indicate the significance of positive psychology in the mental stability of Malaysian students. This contradicted the earlier research since the internal drive was not linked to mental stability. In a nutshell, these results indicate that mental stability and positive psychology, particularly self-empathy, have strong correlations.
Susceptibility of the Results and conclusions of the Study
The author notes that contrary to earlier research, the internal drive was not linked to mental stability. This could be justified by the passion with which students approach their academics. In that light, if they are motivated to study due to social acceptance like parental acceptance, it might lead to obsessive drive, which can be harmful to their stability. Based on the finding of this Study, there is a need to be skeptical about the results since obsessive drive does not contribute to mental stability. This calls for more research to be done on the subject to determine if, indeed, the internal drive can cause obsessive drive and thus mental instability. The study would be aimed at providing scientific evidence that proves beyond doubt that internal drive can negatively affect mental stability.
Appropriateness of Using the Asian Culture in Interpreting the Results
The Study highlights a difference in the way one culture understands various concepts and highlights that there is a difference in the way each culture interprets concepts. In this sense, the research argues that the way the internal drive is related to mental stability could vary with cultures, I feel that there is a gap in the Study and an in-depth study of the relationship between mental stability and the positive predictor variables needs to be conducted in all cultures. This is because feelings, values, and beliefs vary from culture to culture, and the generalization of all cultures could result in errors.
Additionally, Malaysia consists of a mixture of cultures, and even though the Asian culture is predominant, results may vary with different cultures. I concur with the author’s recommendation that comprehensive perceptions of internal, external, and drive should be investigated at length, and this should be conducted individually across diverse cultures. This is because in as much as some aspects of different cultures are similar; there are varying aspects too. And this could cause disparities in the results achieved in the Study, so it is important to ascertain the credibility of the results.
What Could have been Different Had the Study been done in Aotearoa
First, I would have used a simple random sampling technique instead of recruiting students via opportunity sampling and collecting results from only one university. This is because opportunity sampling puts a restriction on how the study results and conclusions are generalized. This is because it selects just a part of the entire population. For this, I would have conducted interviews at a time when all university students of Aotearoa were in session and selected random students to fill the questionnaires. This is not the case in the presented Study, and for that reason, I feel that the Study fell short of representation.
Secondly, I would have avoided the use of a self-report scale since it reduces the integrity of students’ answers and can lead to social biases (Latkin et al., 2017). In this light, the self-report scales are prone to errors as people can choose not to give genuine responses. Also, the lack of drive for respondents could give them a reason to give false answers. For this reason, I would have incentivized the respondents to motivate them to give genuine results and curb the desirability bias or lack of drive that would result in it.
Thirdly, I would have opted to pursue longitudinal studies instead of a cross-sectional study. This is due to the cross-sectional study’s constraint of not being able to determine the causal direction of the link between the variables. In contrast, a longitudinal study is more suited for determining the causal relationship between the variables and creating interventions. This would also ensure that the study results are presented from a better point since it would have been all-inclusive of even students who were on a break. Repetitive collection of data from the population also ensures clarity and emphasis.
References
Kotera, Y., & Ting, S. H. (2021). The positive psychology of Malaysian university students: Impacts of engagement, drive, self-empathy, and well-being on mental health. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 19(1), 227-239. Web.
Park, S. H., Song, Y. J. C., Demetriou, E. A., Pepper, K. L., Thomas, E. E., Hickie, I. B., & Guastella, A. J. (2020). Validation of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21) in individuals with an autism spectrum disorder. Psychiatry Research, 291, 113300.
Seeram, E. (2019). An overview of correlational research. Radiologic technology, 91(2), 176-179.