Factors Influencing Mental Health among University Students: An Ecological Perspective

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the factors influencing mental health among university students based on ecological perspectives. Method: The subjects for this study were 416 students in two colleges in K province. The instruments used for measurement were: Symptom Checklist (Derogatis, 1977), Ego Resilience Scale (Block & Block, 1980), Perceived Stress Inventory (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983), and Social Support Scale (Park, 2002). The data was analyzed using the IBM SPSS program. Result: Ego resilience and perceived stress as intrapersonal factors and friends’ support as interpersonal factor were the significant predictors of mental health. It was showed that these factors explained 47% of mental health. Conclusion: This study suggests that the factors influencing mental health are both intrapersonal and interpersonal factors. Thus, the findings of this study provide the basic data to develop a program for mental health of university students based on ecological perspectives.