Exploring Resilience Among College Students in Sabah, Malaysia: A Quantitative Study
Abstract
Resilience equips college students with the ability to adapt to, withstand, and overcome academic, personal, and social pressures, directly impacting their mental health and academic performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the resilience among college students in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. It aimed to determine (1) if there were any significant age, gender, and ethnic differences in college students’ resilience, (2) if there were any significant differences in college students’ resilience based on a hypothesized value of 3.5, and (3) the descriptive statistics on college students’ resilience. The sample consisted of 70 college students recruited from three private colleges in Sabah. The 12-item Nicholson McBride Resilience Questionnaire (NMRQ) was used to collect data, which were subsequently transferred onto a spreadsheet, and analyzed using SPSS 26.0. Kruskal-Wallis H test revealed non-significant differences in the college students’ resilience by way of ethnicity and age, while Mann-Whitney U test showed non-significant differences in terms of gender. Wilcoxon signed rank test showed that only one item was significant at p < 0.05, whereby students indicated that they generally managed to keep things in perspective. Additionally, the same test showed that one item was significant at p < 0.001, where students indicated that they trusted their intuition. The overall group mean was 43.46/60, indicating that the college students tend to possess low-average levels of resilience. Lastly, some recommendations on how to increase college students’ resilience were made in light of the findings.
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