Mental Health Status of Adolescents in Malaysia and Indonesia through Early Screening of Psychological Wellness
Abstract
This study aims to identify the level of mental health of adolescents in Malaysia and Indonesia through early screening test of adolescent psychological wellness involving four sub-constructs, namely Potential Realization, Overcoming Ordinary Stress, Learning Productively, and Contribution to Society. A total of 744 respondents (558 Malaysian respondents, 186 Indonesian respondents) aged between 13 to 16 years were selected using random sampling aimed at secondary schools in Johor Baharu Malaysia and Bandung Indonesia. This survey study design involves two phases namely the construction and testing phase of the instrument and the instrument administration phase. The findings of the study show that the Adolescent Psychological Wellness Instrument has a good validity coefficient value of 0.827 (82.7%) and a high reliability coefficient value of 0.916. Furthermore, the findings of the study show that the level of psychological wellness of adolescents in Malaysia and Indonesia is at a moderate level for all four sub-constructs. Findings from t-test analysis show that there are significant differences in the level of psychological wellness of adolescents in Malaysia and Indonesia, t (742) = -8.668, p = 000 (p
<0.05). Next, there are significant differences for the three sub-constructs namely the level of potential realization, t (742) = -6.778, p = .000 (p <0.05), level of learning productively, t (742) = -5.148, p = .001 (p <0.05). and the level of contribution to society, t (742) = -15.089, p = .001 (p <0.05), for adolescents in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, there are no significant differences for the level of overcoming ordinary stress, t (742) = -5.474, p = .130 (p> 0.05), for adolescents in Malaysia and Indonesia. Information on the psychological wellness status of adolescents and this empirical exploration are expected to open a new chapter in understanding adolescent development in various aspects, especially on the aspects of adolescent mental health in Malaysia and Indonesia.
