Life Satisfaction, Religiosity, Positive-Negative Affect and Academic Performance in Undergraduates

 *Faheem ud Din

Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar

Hayat Muhammad

Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar

Saima Arzeen

Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar

Shakir Ullah

Department of Psychology, University of Peshawar

 This study investigated the relationships among life satisfaction, religiosity, positive-negative affect and academic performance in 80 undergraduate students. Convenience sampling technique was applied and Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larson, & Griffen, 1985), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson & Clark, 1998) and Index of Religiosity (Aziz & Rehman, 1996) were administered to collect the data. Preceding semester GPA was asked in order to get the idea about the academic performance of the students. The analyses revealed that religiosity and life satisfaction were significantly related to academic performance. Whereas, negative affect was negatively related to academic performance, life satisfaction and religiosity. The analysis also indicated that positive affect and religiosity are not related with life satisfaction. No significant differences were found between gender on studied variables. It was concluded that religiosity and life satisfaction are predictors of high academic performance in undergraduate students.

 Keywords: Life satisfaction, religiosity, positive-negative affect, academic performance.

 Life satisfaction is explained as an intellectual assessment of existence of a person as a whole and some aspects related to it (Diener, 2000). Tool to measure life satisfaction extends from multiple item scales to single question with an objective for assessing life satisfaction as a whole. Overall, subjective well-being normally consists of three consistent but discrete factors, namely the relative presence of positive affect, nonexistence of negative affect and apparent worth of life, or life satisfaction (Bradshaw, Keung, Rees, & Goswami, 2011; Diener, 2000). Bean and Bradley (1986) studied life satisfaction using younger population i.e. American college students and studied how performance impacts the life satisfaction. Research found that better performance leads to more satisfaction. A recent study by Antaramian (2017) also concluded that higher life satisfaction among students led to better academic performance, including greater academic self-efficacy, student engagement, realistic academic goals and lower academic stress.

Affect constitute of feelings which can sometimes be known as emotions. Sometimes, affect can be known as either facial, vocal or behavioral aspects (APA, 2006). On the other hand, mood is defined as a state which is temporary and can be changed. Positive affect refers to singular subjective practices of desirable emotions like pleasure, curiosity, and attentiveness, whereas, negative affect includes factors such as negative practices of undesirable feeling of overwhelming emotions and reduced self-concept. Negative affectivity constitutes various negative emotions such as fury, disdain, revulsion, remorse, horror, and nervousness (Watson & Clark, 1994). Mood imbalances of an individual may worsen the learning efficacy and academic performance. The severe the mood related issues are, the higher would be the probability of experiencing poor motivation, laziness and below optimal level of academic performance (Brand, Reimer, & Opwis, 2007).

The term religiosity is used to explain the forte of an individual’s convictions regarding his faith and how an individual refrains from different forms of prohibited activities. Religiosity has been studied previously, which included personal commitment, participation in community rituals, interacting with the devine being (individuals hold a belief that they have a direct contact with the Creator), and inclination towards public or privatized religiosity, in explaining their level of religious inclination (Peacock & Poloma, 1999). Religiosity, according to Islam, includes our faith, religious practices, belief, the information we have, and the way we carry our lives. The ideology of Islamic set of guidelines which include belief in monotheism,

Prophethood of Muhammad (P.B.U.H.), the life after death and reappearing in front of Allah on the Day of Judgment. Moreover, Islam also focuses on obligatory practices such as prayers. The information about Islam and its laws are taught through Quran and through experience of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.). Islam provide us the guidance on how to lead our lives according to the teachings of Islam. Faith helps in transitioning the lives of human beings around and helps in motivating the practice of Islamic rituals (Ahmed, 1993). Levin, Chatters, and Taylor (1995) reported that religiosity maintains satisfaction with life and the level of religiosity also determines contentment with life. These findings are supported by Krause (2015) and Yoon and Lee (2004) who indicated that individuals with firm religious beliefs were happier and experienced higher life satisfaction. This kind of linkage was especially strong among the geriatric population and individuals who were either uneducated or lesser educated. Habib, Donald, and Hutchinson (2018) also reported that women had higher levels of religiosity then men.

The academic performance is the recording of last examination CGPA/GPA and predictable GPA for the present examination. The GPA is a better dimension since it delivers a better understanding into the cluster of students (Elmore, Young, Harris, & Mason, 2016).

Objectives of the Study

To determine the relationships among life satisfaction, religiosity, positive-negative affect and academic performance and to find out gender differences in each variable.

Hypotheses of the Study

• Life satisfaction, religiosity, positive affect are likely to have a positive relationship with academic
• Negative affect is likely to have a negative relationship with academic
• Men and women are likely to differ in life satisfaction, positive-negative affect, and religiosity.

Method

 Sample

The purposive sampling technique was used to select participants (Men = 40; Women: 40) from various departments of University of Peshawar with the age range of 18-25 years. Private students who do not attend any regular classes were not a part of this study.

Assessment Measures

Demographic Questionnaire. It was developed to gather background and personal information of the participants. Further, academic performance was assessed on the demographic questionnaire by asking graduated their grades.

Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larson, & Griffen, 1985). SWLS, a 5-item scale, is used widely to assess life satisfaction because its helps save the time to conduct interviews and give a detailed account in a very short span of time with good reliability. Internal consistency of the scale in this research was .75.

Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson & Clark, 1998). PANAS assesses positive and negative concepts of states and traits. PANAS has 20-items and scoring is done on 5-point likert scale which range from very slightly (1) to extremely (5). Chronbach alpha of the positive scale was .90, and for the negative scale was .87.

Index of Religiosity (IR; Aziz & Rehman, 1996). IR, a 27- items index, measures religious faith, religious doctrine and religious effect. The reliability of the scale was 0.80.

Procedure

Study was carried out by recruiting the students from University of Peshawar. The subjects were contacted individually. All individuals were informed about the aims of the study. They were also told about the privacy of the process. They were told their answers will

be set aside anonymously and be used only for academic purposes. Participants had the right to ask about any difficulty they faced during administration.

Results

Table 1

Psychometric Properties of Major Scales used in Study

Note: SWLS = Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), PANAS = Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, IR =Index of religiosity

Table 1 shows that the reliability values of the scale came out to be satisfactory.

Table 2

Pearson Product Moment Correlation among Life Satisfaction, Religiosity, Positive-Negative Affect and Academic Performance (N=80)

  Performance                                                                                                                 

Results show that Life Satisfaction was positively related with Academic Performance and negatively related with Negative Affect. Religiosity was positively related with academic performance and negatively related with negative affect. negative affect was negatively associated with academic performance.

Table 3

Differences on Religiosity, Life satisfaction and Positive and Negative Affect Scales (N= 80)

Men                  Women

         (n=40)                 (n=40)                                    95 % CL    

The table 3 indicates the mean differences of men and women students on studied variables. Results showed that mean differences were insignificant among two groups.

Discussion

The present study revealed that academic performance was positively associated with life satisfaction and religiosity while negatively associated with negative affect. A non-significant correlation of religiosity with positive affect and a significant negative relationship with negative affect were found. No significant gender difference was found on religiosity and life satisfaction.

Previous studies have also indicated that GPA was positively associated with life satisfaction (Lepp, Barkley, & Karpinski, 2014). This indicated that life satisfaction was positively related with academic performance. The findings of another study showed the same result that life satisfaction had positive relationship with academic performance while using techniques to manage time by undergraduate students (Macan, Shahani, Dipboye, & Phillips, 1990). According to research, institute-related features like environment, relationships at school, academic accomplishment and general evaluations of one's liking towards the school were associated with life satisfaction (Suldo, Riley, & Shaffer, 2006).

Academic performance appeared to be significantly and positively correlated with religiosity in undergraduate students. The findings are in consistency with previous studies (Abar, Carter, & Winsler, 2009). Regnerus (2000) also concluded that youngsters with higher religiosity tend to achieve better than others who do not, thus, religiosity had positive relationship with academic performance. National Education Longitudinal Survey data set from 1988 to 1992 period also showed positive association of religiosity with academic performance (Jeynes,1999).

In the present study, academic performance had significant negative correlation with negative affect in undergraduate students. Lv et al. (2016) reported that educational accomplishment of students had positive correlation with positive affect and negative correlation with negative affect. Correlational analysis indicated that psychological stiffness and mood might differentially influence across genders. The findings of study showed men students had positive relationship with academic performance and positive affect while women had no significant relationship with semester evaluation and PANAS (Hunt et al., 2014; Villavicencio, 2011). Critical thinking was positively related with academic success, but negative affect was negatively related with academic achievement. Undesirable feelings like nervousness, rage, and dullness appeared to be originated mainly in undergraduates with poor accomplishment results (Villavicencio, 2011).

The findings are in consistency with previous studies by Hashim, Freddy, & Rosmatunisah (2012) which indicated that self- determined individuals liked to exercise more and this habit influences the academic performances of the individuals and decreased the psychological issues such as stress, anxiety etc. Whereas the analysis in the present study suggested non-significant results.

The present study revealed non-significant relationship between religiosity and life satisfaction. Although previous research, including Ellison (1991) and Levin et al. (1995), found a positive relationship among these variables. The targeted population were the youngsters who think that they have enough time in this world, thus they tend to neglect their religion, whereas people in older age have higher religiosity as reported by Levin et al. (1995). Therefore, this could be one of the reasons as why this relationship didn’t come out to be significant.

The study showed that life satisfaction was positively related with positive affect in undergraduate students. The findings are consistent with previous studies by Singh and Jha (2008) and Deniz and Işik (2010). Another similar study showed positive relationship of positive affect with quality of life which has more impact with self-efficacy and physical self-esteem.The findings concluded that positive affect should be involved in education system and physical self-esteem which is helpful in enhancing quality of life of students (Joseph, Royse, Benitez, & Pekmezi, 2014). Bishop, Martin, Poon, and Johnson (2011) and Yamasaki, Sasaki, Uchida, and Katsuma (2011) also shared similar findings.

No significant gender differences were found in religiosity in this study. The effect of religiosity and psychological distress was examined in 170 undergraduates. Previous findings showed that religiosity had positive affect in undergraduate student with no gender differences (O’Connor, Cobb, & O’Connor, 2003). The result of study, which is in contrast to previous finding, may be due to culture differences. Other finding showed that religiosity had higher scorer in both genders, lower score on psychoticism that indicate that religiosity play vital role in human life with no effect of sex (Lewis, & Maltby,1995). However, Penny, Francis, & Robbins (2015), in their study reported the high level of religiosity in women than men students. Engs and Mullen (1999) investigated association between religiosity and substance abuse among students. The findings of study showed religiosity higher in females due to low quantity of drugs taken as compared to male students.

No differences in life satisfaction were found among undergraduate students across the gender. Schnettler et al. (2017) findings are consistent with the finding of our study. Rashid and Mustafa (2016) investigated life satisfaction with emotional expressivity among government university men and women students. The study by Bukhari and Saba (2017) concluded that there is no effect of gender on life satisfaction. The present study also showed no differences in term of gender in level of life satisfaction among participants.

Loneliness and life satisfaction was examined in Turkish University Students. It was concluded that men have greater life gratification than female students. In our study, no differences were found among male and female student but in above study males are more satisfied than females because of social norms of society specially in case of females (Bugay, 2007). The study showed that positive affect was found more in male undergraduates than females.

It is concluded from the above discussion that religiosity and life satisfaction are predictors of high academic performance. Religiosity is considered as a leading factor of positive psychological healthiness, in numerous researches. It was also confirmed from the study that certain religious and spiritual practices can help restore mental health, and can boost positive emotions.

References

Abar, B., Carter, K. L., & Winsler, A. (2009). The effects of maternal parenting style and religious commitment on self-regulation, academic achievement, and risk behavior among African- American parochial college students. Journal   of Adolescence, 32(2), 259-273. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2008

.03.008

Ahmed, K. (1993). Islam: Its meaning and message. Pakistan: Book Promoters.

Antaramian, S. (2017). The importance of very high life satisfaction for students’ academic success. Cogent Education, 4(1), 1307622, doi: 10.1080/2331186X.2017.1307622

Aziz, S., & Rehman, G. (1996). Index of religiosity: The development of an indigenous measure. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 22(1-2), 79-85

Bean, J. P., & Bradley, R. K. (1986). Untangling the satisfaction- performance relationship for college students. The Journal of Higher Education, 57(4), 393-412. doi: 10.1080/00221546.

1986.11778785

Bishop, A. J., Martin, P., Poon, L., & Johnson, M. A. (2011). Exploring positive and negative affect as key indicators of life satisfaction among centenarians: does cognitive performance matter? Journal of Aging Research, 2011, 953031. doi: 10.4061/2011/953031

Bradshaw, J., Keung, A., Rees, G., & Goswami, H. (2011). Children's subjective well-being: International comparative perspectives. Children and Youth Services Review, 33(4), 548–556. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.05.010

Brand, S., Reimer, T., & Opwis, K. (2007). How do we learn in a negative mood? Effects of a negative mood on transfer and

learning. Learning      and      Instruction, 17(1),      1-16.      doi: 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2006.11.002

Bugay, A. (2007, September). Loneliness and life satisfaction of Turkish university students. Education in a Changing Environment Conference Proceedings (pp. 371-376).

Bukhari, S. R., & Saba, F. (2017). Depression, anxiety and stress as negative predictors of life satisfaction in   university students. Rawal Medical Journal, 42(2), 255-257.

Deniz, M. E., & Işik, E. (2010). Positive and negative affect, life satisfaction, and coping with stress by attachment styles in Turkish students. Psychological Reports, 107(2), 480-490. doi: 10.2466/02.09.10.20.PR0.107.5.480-490

Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34–43. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.34

Diener, E., & Ryan, K. (2009). Subjective well-being: A general overview. South African Journal of Psychology, 39(4), 391- 406. doi: 10.1177/008124630903900402

Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larson, R. J., & Griffen, S. (1985). The Satisfaction with Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71-75. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13

Elmore, W. M., Young, J. K., Harris, S., & Mason, D. (2017). The Relationship between Individual Student Attributes and Online Course Completion. In Handbook of Research on Building, Growing, and Sustaining Quality E-Learning Programs (pp. 151-173). IGI Global.

Engs, R. C., & Mullen, K. (1999). The effect of religion and religiosity on drug use among a selected sample of post-secondary students in Scotland. Addiction Research, 7(2), 149 170, doi: 10.3109/16066359909004380.

Habib, D. G., Donald, C., Hutchinson, G. (2018). Religion and Life Satisfaction: A Correlational Study of Undergraduate Students in Trinidad. Journal of Religion and Health, 57(4), 1567-1580. doi:10.1007/s10943-018-0602-6

Hashim, H. A., Freddy, G., & Rosmatunisah, A. (2012). Relationships between negative affect and academic achievement among secondary school students: The mediating effects of habituated exercise. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 9(7), 1012- 1019. doi: 10.1123/jpah.9.7.1012

Hunt, F., Fern Pollak, L., Stock, R., Usher, L., Lynam, S., & Cachia,

1. (2014). The role of mental toughness and affect in academic success within a higher education setting. Retrieved from repository.uwl.ac.uk

Jeynes, W. H. (1999). The effects of religious commitment on the academic achievement of black and Hispanic children. Urban E76ducation, 34(4), 458-479. doi: 10.1177/00420859993440

03

Joseph, R. P., Royse, K. E., Benitez, T. J., & Pekmezi, D. W. (2014). Physical activity and quality of life among university students: exploring self-efficacy, self-esteem, and affect as potential mediators. Quality of Life Research, 23(2), 659-667. doi: 10.1007/s11136-013-0492-8.

Krause, N., Chatters, L. M., Meltzer, T., & Morgan, D. L. (2000). Negative interaction in the church: insights from focus groups with older adults. Reviews of Religious Research, 41, 510–533. doi: 10.2307/3512318

Lepp, A., Barkley, J. E., & Karpinski, A. C. (2014). The relationship between cell phone use, academic performance, anxiety, and satisfaction with life in college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 343-350. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.049

Levin, J. S., Chatters, L. M., & Taylor, R. J. (1995). Religious Effects on Health Status and Life Satisfaction among Black Americans. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 50B(3), S154- S163. doi: 10.1093/geronb/50B.3.S154

Lewis, C. A., & Maltby, J. (1995). Religiosity and personality among US adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 18(2), 293- 295. doi: 10.1016/0191-8869(94)00159-P

Lv, B., Zhou, H., Guo, X., Liu, C., Liu, Z., & Luo, L. (2016). The

relationship between academic achievement and the emotional well-being of elementary school children in China: the moderating role of parent-school communication. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 948. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00948

Macan, T. H., Shahani, C., Dipboye, R. L., & Phillips, A. P. (1990). College students' time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(4), 760-768. doi: 10.1037/0022-0663.82.4.760

O’Connor, D. B., Cobb, J., & O’Connor, R. C. (2003). Religiosity, stress and psychological distress: No evidence for an association among undergraduate students. Personality and Individual Differences, 34(2), 211-217. doi: 10.1016/S0191-

8869(02)00035-1

Peacock, J., & Poloma, M. (1999). Religiosity and Life Satisfaction Across the Life Course. Social Indicators Research, 48(3), 319-343. doi: 10.1023/A:1006928028270

Penny, G., Francis, L. J., & Robbins, M. (2015). Why are women more religious than men? Testing the explanatory power of personality theory   among   undergraduate   students   in Wales. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 18(6), 492-502. doi: 10.1080/13674676.2015.1079603

Rashid, T., & Mustafa, S. (2011). To Explore the Relationship and Difference of Life Satisfaction and Emotional Expressivity among Adolescence in Joint and Nuclear Family. Annals of Punjab Medical College, 6(2), 92-96

Regnerus, M. D. (2000). Shaping schooling success: Religious socialization and educational outcomes in metropolitan public schools. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 39(3), 363-370. doi: 10.1111/0021-8294.00030

Schnettler, B., Miranda-Zapata, E., Grunert, K. G., Lobos, G., Denegri, M., Hueche, C., & Poblete, H. (2017). Life satisfaction of university students in relation to family and food in a developing country. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1522. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01522

Singh, K., & Jha, S. D. (2008). Positive and negative affect, and grit as predictors of happiness and life satisfaction. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 34(2), 40-45.

Suldo, S. M., Riley, K. N., & Shaffer, E. J. (2006). Academic correlates of children and adolescents' life satisfaction. School Psychology International, 27(5), 567-582. doi: 10.1177/014303

4306073411

VanDyke, C. L., & Gore, J. S. (2012). Using personality profiles and gender to predict affect. Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, 11(1).

Villavicencio, F. T. (2011). Critical thinking, negative academic emotions, and achievement: A mediational analysis. The Asia- Pacific Education Researcher, 20(1), 118-126.

Watson, D., Clark, L., and Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54,1063–70.

Yamasaki, K., Sasaki, M., Uchida, K., & Katsuma, L. (2011). Effects of positive and negative affect and emotional suppression on short-term life   satisfaction. Psychology,   Health   & Medicine, 16(3),313-322. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2011.554564

Yoon, D. P., & Lee, E. O. (2004). Religiousness/spirituality and subjective well-being among rural elderly whites, African Americans, and native Americans. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 10, 191–211. doi: 10.1300/J13 7v10n01_05

Zuckerman, D. M., Kasl, S. V., &Ostfeld, A. M. (1984). Psychosocial predictors of mortality among the elderly poor: the role of religion, well-being, and social contacts. American Journal of Epidemiology, 119(3), 410-423. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals. aje.a113759.