Keywords
self-esteem
perceived stress
medical students
dental students
Abstract
Background: Life satisfaction, perceived stress and self-esteem
have been found to be related to academic achievements of
medical and dental students. However, the inter-relation of these
three factors among medical and dental students has not been
established.
Materials & Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried
out on 239 pre-clinical medical and dental students at a Malaysian
private University using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS),
Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Perceived Stress
Scale (PSS). Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SSPSS) version 22. The SWLS, RSES and PSS
scores are expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Comparison
of means was carried out using the independent t test. Correlation
of variables was carried out using Pearson’s Correlation. A p
value ≤ 0.05 is considered statistically significant and a p value
of ≤ 0.001 is considered highly significant.
Results: Overall, medical and dental students showed an average
level of life satisfaction (M=23.46, SD=5.52), moderate level of
stress (M=20.49, SD=5.85) and normal self-esteem (M=17.61,
SD=4.7). Among the three factors, only perceived stress had a
significant effect on their academic achievements (p<0.05). All
three factors also showed a significant correlation with one
another (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that stress
management is important to medical and dental students as this
helps with their academic performance and has an influence on
their self-esteem, as well as life satisfaction.
References
Firth J. Levels and sources in medical students. BMJ.
; 292:1177–80.
Sherina MS, Rampal L, Kaneson N. Psychological stress
among undergraduate medical students. Med J Malaysia.
; 59:207–11
Saipanish R. Stress among medical students in a Thai
medical school. Med Teach. 2003; 25:502–6.
Al-Samadani KH, Al-Dharrab A. The perception of stress
among clinical dental students. World J Dent 2013; 4(1) -
-28
Dimsdale JE. Psychological Stress and Cardiovascular
Disease. J Am Coll Cardiol 2008; 51(13): 1237–1246
Machado A, Herrera AJ, de Pablos RM, Espinosa-Oliva
AM, Sarmiento M, Ayala A, Venero JL, Santiago M,Villarán RF, Delgado-Cortés MJ, Argüelles S, Cano J.
Chronic stress as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Rev
Neurosci 2014; 25(6):785-804.
Qamar K, Khan NS, Kiani MRB. Factors associated with
stress among medical students. J Pak Med Assoc, 2015;
(7): 753-755
Hammen C. Stress and depression. Annu Rev Clin
Psychol 2005; 1:293–319.
Kendler KS, Karkowski LM, Prescott CA. Causal
relationship between stressful life events and the onset of
major depression. Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156:837–841.
Puthran R, Zhang MW, Tam WW, Ho RC. Prevalence of
depression amongst medical students: a meta-analysis.
Med Educ 2016; 50(4):456-68.
Galán F, Ríos-Santos JV, Polo J, Rios-Carrasco B, Bullón
P. Burnout, depression and suicidal ideation in dental
students. Med Oral Patol Oral Cir Bucal 2014;19
(3):e206-11
Silverstein ST, Kritz-Silverstein DA. A longitudinal study
of stress in first-year dental students. J Dent Educ 2010;
(8): 836-48.
Sohail N. Stress and Academic Performance among
medical students. J Coll Physicians Surgeons Pak 2013;
(1): 67-71.
Diener E, Emmons RA, Larsen RJ, Griffin S. The
Satisfaction with Life Scale. J Personality Assessment
; 49, 71-75.
Samaranayake CB, Fernando AT. Satisfaction with life
and depression among medical students in Auckland,
New Zealand. N Z Med J 2011; 124(1341):12-17.
Aboalshamat K, Hou XY, Strodl E. Psychological Health
of Medical and Dental Students in Saudi Arabia: A
Longitudinal Study. J Community Med Public Health
Care 2014; 1: 001.
Preoteasa CT, Axante A, Cristea AD, Preoteasa E. The
relationship between positive well-being and academicassessment: Results from a prospective study on dental
students. Educ Res International 2016; vol. 2016, Article
ID 9024687, 8 pages.
Shareef MA, AlAmodi AA, Al-Khateeb AA, Abudan Z,
Alkhani MA, Zebian SI, Qannita AS, Tabrizi MJ. The
interplay between academic performance and quality of
life among preclinical students. BMC Med Educ 2015;
:193.
Smith ER, Mackie, D M. Social Psychology (3rd ed.).
Hove: Psychology Press, 2007.
Rosenberg M. Society and the adolescent self-image.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.
Gentile B, Grabe S, Dolan-Pascoe B, Twenge JM, Wells
BE, Maitino A. Gender differences in domain-specific
self-esteem: A meta-analysis. Rev Gen Psychol 2009;
(1): 34 – 45
Twenge JM, Campbell K. Self-Esteem and
socioeconomic status: A meta-analytic review. Pers Soc
Psychol Rev 2002; 6(1) 59 – 71
Dale B, Leland A, Dale JG. What factors facilitate good
learning experiences in clinical studies in nursing:
Bachelor students’ perceptions. J Int Schol Res
Not. 2013; 10:7.
Rosli Y, Othman H , Ishak I, Lubis SH, Saat NZM, Omar
B. Self-esteem and academic performance relationship
amongst the second year undergraduate students of
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Campus.
Procedia Soc Behav Sci 2012; 60 (17): 582 – 589
Baumeister R, Campbell J, Krueger J, Vohs K. Does High
Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal
Success, Happiness, or Healthier Lifestyles? Psychol Sci
Public Interest 2003; 4(1):1-44.
Pavot W, Diener E. The Satisfaction with Life Scale
(SWL). Measurement Instrument Database for the Social
Science, 2013 Retrieved from www.midss.ie
Farajpour A, Arshadi H, Homam M, Sakhmarsi TA,
Mohamadi E, Musavi NS. A comparative study of selfefficacy
and self-esteem among students of Islamic Azad
University of Medical Sciences Mashhad branch. Future
Med Educ J 2014, 4(1): 17-21
Shriram V , Bhimani N , Aundhakar N , Zingade U ,
Kowale A. Study of perceived stress among I MBBS
medical students. J Educ Technol Health Sci 2015; 2, (1):
-12.
Shah M, Hasan S, Malik S, Sreeramareddy CT. Perceived
Stress, Sources and Severity of Stress among medical
undergraduates in a Pakistani Medical School. BMC Med
Educ 2010;10:2
Crede J, Wirthwein L, McElvany N, Steinmayr R.
Adolescents’ academic achievement and life satisfaction:
the role of parents’ education. Front Psychol 2015; 6: 52.
Ng Z, Huebner SE, Hills KJ. Life satisfaction and
academic performance in early adolescents: evidence for
reciprocal association. J Sch Psychol 2015, 53(6): 479–
Bowles T. Focusing on time orientation to explain
adolescent self-concept and academic achievement: Part
II. Testing a model. J Applied Health Behav, 1999; 1, 1–
Ranasinghe P, Wathurapatha, WS. Mathangasinghe Y,
Ponnamperuma G. Emotional intelligence, perceived
stress and academic performance of Sri Lankan medical
undergraduates. BMC Med Educ 2017; 17:4.
Al Khatib, SA. (2013). Satisfaction with life, Self-esteem,
gender and marital status as predictors of depressive
symptoms among United Arab Emirates college students.
Int J Psychol Counsell 2013; 5(3): 53-61
Li XM, Zhang FF, Sun XY, Gao WB. Study on the
relationship among lifestyle, self-esteem and life
satisfaction in Chinese adolescents. Beijing Da Xue Bao
; 42(3):330-334.
Furnham A, Cheng H. Lay theories of happiness. J
Happiness St 2000; 1: 227-246.
Diener ED, Diener M. Cross-cultural correlates of life
satisfaction and self-esteem. J Pers Soc Psychol 1995;
:653-663
Tan XH, Mohd Ramzan U. Relationship of Perceived
Stress and Life Satisfaction among Medical Students: A
Cross-sectional Study. British J Medicine Med Res 2017;
(10): 1-7
Civitci A. Perceived stress and life satisfaction in college
students: Belonging and extracurricular participation as
moderators. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 2015; 205:271–281.
Kent J, Gorenflo D, Forney M. Personal behavioural
variables related to perceived stress of second year
medical students. Teach Learn Med 1993; 5(2):90-95.
Matheny KB, Roque-Tovar BE, Curlette WL. Perceived
stress, coping resources, and life satisfaction among U. S.
and mexican college students: A cross-cultural study. Ann
Psychol 2008; 24(1): 49-57
Fahran S, Khan I. Impact of stress, self-esteem and gender
factor on students’ academic achievement. Int J New
Trends Educ Their Implications 2015; 6(2): 154-167
Reilly E, Dhingra K, Boduszek D. Teachers’ self-efficacy
beliefs, self-esteem, and job stress as determinants of job
satisfaction. Int J Educ Manag 2014; 28, 365-378.
Tubman JG, Windle M. Continuity of difficult
temperament in adolescence: Relations with depression,
life events, family support, and substance use across a
one-year period. J Youth Adoles. 1995; 24, 133-153.
Zautra A, Reich J. Life events and perceptions of life
quality: Developments in a two-factor approach. J
Community Psychol 1993; 11, 121-132.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2024 Asia Pacific Journal of Health Sciences and Research