The Relationship between Positive Emotion and Resilience Among Undergraduate Students

Although the numbers of youths entering universities in Malaysia are increasing rapidly, several studies have shown that some students are suffering from poor mental health which could lead them to have experience positive emotions and more negative emotions. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between positive emotion and resilience among UPSI undergraduate students and to examine the difference between male students and female students in positive emotion and resilience. Cross-sectional survey design was applied to gather the data of 140 participants using both paper and pencil method and online survey method. A set of questionnaire comprising demographic information, Dispositional Positive Emotions Scales (DPES) to measure positive emotions and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) to measure resilience was given. Using Pearson’s product-moment correlation analysis, it was found that there was a significant relationship between positive emotion and resilience, r= 0.4. Thus, null hypothesis is rejected. The correlation coefficient obtained showed that there is positive correlation between positive emotion and resilience among UPSI students in which students with more positive emotion are more likely to have higher level of resilience. Based on the t-test analysis, the difference was not significant between male students and female students for both positive emotions and resilience. In conclusion, more positive psychology programs can be conducted to educate the students about good mental health and well-being which will eventually increase their psychological resilience in facing challenges in their university lives.