Prevalence and determinants of mental health issues among university students and its impact in their academic performance and wellbeing in UAE

Abstract

Mental illnesses constitute a significant newlineportion of the global burden of disease. newlineMental health issues have been, and newlineremain, less of a priority in a number of newlinecountries across the world This owes much to the perception that mental illnesses are not life threatening and therefore do not generally gain the academic momentum required to direct resources towards their management. newlineMental health issues are not evenly spread across population segments and research suggests that youth are more vulnerable to mental health issues than other age groups Within the youth segment, students have newlinebeen shown to be particularly vulnerable to mental illnesses. The reason for this could be that mental health issues are largely dependent on social conditions and students are exposed to stressful conditions not only newlinein wider society but also to those associated with the academic environment. In view of the above, the present study measures the determinants, prevalence and outcomes of mental health issues and its impact on their academic performance and well-being among newlineuniversity students of UAE. Despite challenges at several fronts, UAE boasts newlineof its young population and envisions its newlineyouth as a driver of socioeconomic development in foreseeable future. However, investment in the development of young population has been minimal which is evident from UAE s dismal literacy rate and rates of transition from schools to universities. This quantitative study adopted a cross sectional design to guide data collection. The findings revealed that an overwhelming majority of students at the universities were 20-24 years of age with the mean age of 21.5 years. The newlineproportion of male and female students was almost equal. Students living home and those enrolled in Bachelors programs were more affected with mental health issues. Students suffering from high levels of distress and newlinedepression had poor objective and subjective academic performance.