skip to main content

Correlating Demographics and Well-being among Rural College Students in the Philippines

*Resti Tito Villarino orcid scopus publons  -  Cebu Technological University, Philippines
Maureen Lorence Villarino  -  National Research Council of the Philippines, Philippines
Maria Concepcion Temblor  -  Cebu Technological University, Philippines
Prosper Bernard  -  Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Michel Plaisent  -  Université du Québec à Montréal, Philippines
Open Access Copyright (c) 2023 Nurse Media Journal of Nursing
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Citation Format:
Abstract

Background: College students’ well-being is influenced by various factors such as age, gender, and socio-economic levels, but research findings on their correlation are inconsistent.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between age, gender, socio-economic levels, and well-being among college students in private and state colleges in Cebu and Bohol, Philippines.

Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional design and recruited 178 college students using convenient sampling. The modified Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaning, and Accomplishment (PERMA) profiler questionnaire was used to measure well-being. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 27, and Kendall’s tau and point-biserial correlation coefficient were used for data analysis.

Results: The overall PERMA score of the respondents (7.05±1.60) indicated high functioning. The analyses did not reveal a significant relationship between age and gender with well-being, but a significant association was found between socio-economic levels and the overall PERMA scores (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The study’s findings suggest socio-economic levels significantly impact college students’ well-being. Therefore, interventions and policies targeting socio-economic factors may effectively promote well-being among college students.
Fulltext View|Download
Keywords: College students; mental health; PERMA; well-being
Funding: Department of Science and Technology (DOST) National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) Through the Frontier Research Agenda and Capability Building of Researchers in the Visayas: NRCP Science and Technology Experts Pool (NSTEP) under contract NSTEP Visayas

Article Metrics:

  1. American Psychological Association. (2017). Education and socio-economic status factsheet. Https://www.Apa.Org.
  2. Ascenso, S., Perkins, R., & Williamon, A. (2018). Resounding meaning: A PERMA well-being profile of classical musicians. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1895. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01895
  3. Baker, O. G., & Alshehri, B. D. (2020). The relationship between job stress and job satisfaction among Saudi Nurses: A cross-sectional study. Nurse Media Journal of Nursing, 10(3), 292–305. https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v10i3.32767
  4. Bernard, P., Chevance, G., Kingsbury, C., Gadais, T., Dancause, K., Villarino, R., & Romain A. J. (2022). Climate change: the next game changer for sport and exercise psychology. German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-022-00819-w
  5. Biermann, P., Bitzer, J., & Gören, E. (2022). The relationship between age and subjective well-being: Estimating within and between effects simultaneously. The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 21, 100366. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeoa.2021.100366
  6. Billote, W. J. S. M., Reyes, C. E. P. D., Jr, R. A. A., Capuno, R. G., Manguilimotan, R. P., Pinili, L. C., Etcuban, J. O., Igot, V. J., & Manalastas, R. D. (2022). Depression, anxiety, and stress among students in an island higher education institution amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Positive School Psychology, 1501–1514
  7. Butler, J., & Kern, M. L. (2016). The PERMA-profiler: A brief multidimensional measure of flourishing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 6(3), Art. 3. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v6i3.526
  8. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018, November 5). Well-being concepts. https://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/wellbeing.htm
  9. Chirwa, G. C. (2020). "Who knows more, and why?" Explaining socioeconomic-related inequality in knowledge about HIV in Malawi. Scientific African, 7, e00213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2019.e00213
  10. Cundiff, J. M., & Matthews, K. A. (2017). Is subjective social status a unique correlate of physical health? A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 36(12), 1109–1125. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000534
  11. Dalky, H. F., & Gharaibeh, A. (2019). Depression, anxiety, and stress among college students in Jordan and their need for mental health services. Nursing Forum, 54(2), 205–212. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12316
  12. Delshad, M. H., Pourhaji, F., Pourhaji, F., & Azhdari Zarmehri, H. (2022). The relationship between self-efficacy, self-care behavior, and generalized anxiety disorder in COVID-19: A path analysis model. Nurse Media Journal of Nursing, 12(1), 111–121. https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v12i1.32938
  13. Diener, E., Lucas, R. E., & Oishi, S. (2018). Advances and open questions in the science of subjective well-being. Collabra: Psychology, 4(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.115
  14. Dodge, R., Daly, A., Huyton, J., & Sanders, L. (2012). The challenge of defining well-being. International Journal of Well-being, 2(3), 222–235. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v2i3.4
  15. Edmonds, W. A., & Kennedy, T. D. (2017). An applied guide to research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. SAGE Publications, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071802779
  16. Farwa, U., Hussain, M., Afzal, M., & Gilani, S. A. (2019). The role of age, gender and socio-economic status in self-esteem and life satisfaction of nursing students. Journal of Health, Medicine and Nursing, 62, 178–186
  17. Ferreira, R. J. (2020). Climate change, resilience, and trauma: Course of action through research, policy, and practice. Traumatology, 26(3), 246–247. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000282
  18. Graham, C., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2013). Gender and well-being around the world. International Journal of Happiness and Development, 1(2), 212. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJHD.2013.055648
  19. Handayani, F., Utami, R. S., Ropyanto, C. B., Kusumaningrum, N. S. D., & Hastuti, Y. D. (2022). The associated factors of quality of life among stroke survivors: A study in Indonesia. Nurse Media Journal of Nursing, 12(3), 404–413. https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v12i3.45763
  20. Hasan, N., & Bao, Y. (2020). Impact of "e-Learning crack-up" perception on psychological distress among college students during COVID-19 pandemic: A mediating role of "fear of academic year loss." Children and Youth Services Review, 118, 105355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105355
  21. Javier, J. R., Supan, J., Lansang, A., Beyer, W., Kubicek, K., & Palinkas, L. A. (2014). Preventing Filipino mental health disparities: Perspectives from adolescents, caregivers, providers, and advocates. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 5(4), 316–324. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036479
  22. Matud, M. P., López-Curbelo, M., & Fortes, D. (2019). Gender and psychological well-being. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(19), 3531. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193531
  23. McLaughlin, K. A., & Sheridan, M. A. (2016). Beyond cumulative risk: A dimensional approach to childhood adversity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25(4), 239–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721416655883
  24. Montano, D. (2021). Socio-economic status, well-being and mortality: A comprehensive life course analysis of panel data, Germany, 1984-2016. Archives of Public Health, 79(1), 40. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00559-7
  25. Navarro-Carrillo, G., Alonso-Ferres, M., Moya, M., & Valor-Segura, I. (2020). Socio-economic status and psychological well-being: Revisiting the role of subjective socio-economic status. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1303. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01303
  26. Nicola, M., Alsafi, Z., Sohrabi, C., Kerwan, A., Al-Jabir, A., Iosifidis, C., Agha, M., & Agha, R. (2020). The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): A review. International Journal of Surgery, 78, 185–193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.04.018
  27. Olatubi, M. I., Olayinka, O., Oyediran, O. O., Ademuyiwa, G. O., & Dosunmu, T. O. (2022). Perceived stress, sexual and marital satisfaction among married healthcare workers in Nigeria. Nurse Media Journal of Nursing, 12(3), 367–379. https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v12i3.48477
  28. Pezirkianidis, C., Stalikas, A., Lakioti, A., & Yotsidi, V. (2019). Validating a multidimensional measure of well-being in Greece: Translation, factor structure, and measurement invariance of the PERMA profiler. Current Psychology, 40, 3030–3047. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00236-7
  29. Philippine Statistics Authority (2018). Statistical tables: 2018 family income and expenditure survey. https://psa.gov.ph/content/statistical-tables-2018-family-income-and-expenditure-survey
  30. Piao, M., Kim, J., Ryu, H., & Lee, H. (2020). Development and usability evaluation of a healthy lifestyle coaching chatbot using a habit formation model. Healthcare Informatics Research, 26(4), 255–264. https://doi.org/10.4258/hir.2020.26.4.255
  31. Realo, A., Johannson, J., & Schmidt, M. (2017). Subjective well-being and self-reported health in osteoarthritis patients before and after arthroplasty. Journal of Happiness Studies, 18(4), 1191–1206. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-016-9769-2
  32. Seligman, M. E. P., & Ungar, L. H. (2016). Predicting individual well-being through the language of social media. Biocomputing 2016, 516–527. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814749411_0047
  33. Siedlecki, K. L., Salthouse, T. A., Oishi, S., & Jeswani, S. (2014). The relationship between social support and subjective well-being across age. Social Indicators Research, 117(2), 561–576. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0361-4
  34. Sinaga, M. R. E., Roida Simanjuntak, S., & Locsin, R. C. (2022). Factors affecting the quality of life of older people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nurse Media Journal of Nursing, 12(2), 185–195. https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v12i2.45101
  35. Umucu, E., Wu, J.-R., Sanchez, J., Brooks, J. M., Chiu, C.-Y., Tu, W.-M., & Chan, F. (2020). Psychometric validation of the PERMA-profiler as a well-being measure for student veterans. Journal of American College Health, 68(3), 271–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1546182
  36. Vera-Villarroel, P., Celis-Atenas, K., Lillo, S., Contreras, D., Díaz-Pardo, N., Páez, D., Torres, J., Vargas, S., & Ovanedel, J. C. (2015). Towards a model of psychological well being. The role of socio-economic status and satisfaction with income in Chile. Universitas Psychologica, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.upsy14-3.tmpw
  37. Villarino, R. T. (2023). Effectiveness of an online health and well-being program on physical activity, nutrition, and sleep in college students. Health Education and Health Promotion, 11(1), 29-36
  38. Villarino, R. T., Arcay, C. A., Temblor, M. C., Villarino, M. L., Bagsit, R., Ocampo, L., & Bernard, P. (2021). The effects of lifestyle intervention using the modified beliefs, attitude, subjective norms, enabling factors model in hypertension management: Quasi-experimental study. JMIR Cardio, 5(2), e20297. https://doi.org/10.2196/20297
  39. Villarino, R. T. H., Villarino, M. L. F., Temblor, M. C. L., Bernard, P., & Plaisent, M. (2022). Developing a health and well-being program for college students: An online intervention. World Journal on Educational Technology: Current Issues, 14(1), 64–78. https://doi.org/10.18844/wjet.v14i1.6638
  40. Villarino, R. T., Villarino, M. L., Temblor, M. C., Bernard, P., & Plaisent, M. (2022). Association between physical health and well-being: A quasi-experimental study. Journal of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, 21(3), 215-221
  41. Wammerl, M., Jaunig, J., Mairunteregger, T., & Streit, P. (2019). The German version of the PERMA-profiler: Evidence for construct and convergent validity of the PERMA theory of well-being in German speaking countries. Journal of Well-Being Assessment, 3(2), 75–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41543-019-00021-0
  42. Wigert, B., Agrawal, S., Barry, K. & Maese, E. (2021). The wellbeing-engagement paradox of 2020. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/336941/wellbeing-engagement-paradox-2020.aspx
  43. Xing, Z., & Huang, L. (2014). The relationship between age and subjective well-being: Evidence from five capital cities in mainland China. Social Indicators Research, 117(3), 743–756
  44. Yang, C., Chen, A., & Chen, Y. (2021). College students' stress and health in the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of academic workload, separation from school, and fears of contagion. PLOS ONE, 16(2), e0246676. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246676

Last update:

  1. Workplace happiness in architectural companies in the city of Valencia: a gender comparison

    Ana Lucía Rodríguez-Leudo, Elena Navarro-Astor. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 6 , 2024. doi: 10.3389/frsc.2024.1460028

Last update: 2024-11-19 18:32:13

No citation recorded.