The Role of Course Experiences, Gender and Residential Status in Mental Health among Student of Human Sciences

Abstract

Students will go through various academic experiences during their college period. These
experiences are caused by different individual, environmental and educational factors. The aim of
this study was to determine the role of course experiences, gender and residential status on mental
health among university students. Population of the study included students majoring in human
science at university of Isfahan, among them, 160 senior students were selected by stratified
sampling. Instruments in this study were two questionnaires, i.e., Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-
90-R), which was used to measure the participants’ mental health, and Personal and Educational
Development Inventory (PEDI), which measured the course experiences. Data were analyzed by ttest,
anova, pearson coloration and regression analysis. The results indicated that the students, at all
scales, had satisfying (acceptable) mental health. The main effect of gender variable on mental
health was significant and the male students were at higher level of mental health in comparison to
female students. However, the main effect of residential status variable was not significant (P<0/05).
Also, the results showed significant negative relationship between all components of student’s
course experiences and mental health (P<0/05); except Self- organizing skills and physical
symptoms. The regression coefficients for predicting mental health based on the educational
experience was significant in cognitive, social and self-organizing skills (P<0/05) but insignificant in
computational skills. Accordingly, appropriate educational experiences of students can be a
determining factor on their mental health and it can be effectively guaranteed by providing facilities
and training mental health to a large extent.