This study aims to identify the level of mental health issues among Malaysian youth and ascertain the extent to which they are affected by depression, anxiety, and stress. This study also seeks to determine the extent to which these issues are associated with suicidal intentions. The data were obtained from the Youth Development Index (YDI) with two cohorts which comprised 8,332 respondents in 2019 and 21,126 respondents in 2020. The respondents completed a self-administered questionnaire, DASS-21, which used a depression scale, an anxiety scale, a stress scale, and a scale for suicide ideation (SSI-C) that indicates the intention to commit suicide. The results showed that, unlike depression and anxiety, there was a considerable increase in the percentage of youth with medium and high levels of stress and suicide attempts in 2020 compared to 2019. The findings provide a better understanding of youth with mental health problems in Malaysia.
Abdul Aziz, F. A., Abd Razak, M. A., Ahmad, N. A., Awaluddin, S. M., Lodz, N. A., Sooryanarayana, R., ... & Jamaluddin, R. (2019). Factors associated with suicidal attempt among school-going adolescents in Malaysia. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 31(8_suppl), 73S-79S.
Aishvarya, S., Maniam, T., Sidi, H., & Oei, T. P. S. (2014). Suicide ideation and intent in Malaysia: A review of the literature. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 55, S95-S100.
Armitage, C. J., Panagioti, M., Rahim, W. A., Rowe, R., & O’Connor, R. C. (2015). Completed suicides and self-harm in Malaysia: a systematic review. General Hospital Psychiatry, 37(2), 153-165.
ASEAN Secretariat. First ASEAN Youth Development Index. Jakarta: The ASEAN Secretariat. (2017). Retrieved from: https://asean.org/asean2020/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/First-ASEAN-Youth-Development-Index.pdf
Bandura, A., & Walters, R. H. (1977). Social learning theory (Vol. 1). Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs.
Beck, A. T., Kovacs, M., & Weissman, A. (1979). Assessment of suicidal intention: The Scale for Suicide Ideation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47(2), 343–352.
Beck, A. T., Brown, G. K., & Steer, R. A. (1997). Psychometric characteristics of the Scale for Suicide Ideation with psychiatric outpatients. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35(11), 1039-1046.
Becker, S. P., Holdaway, A. S., & Luebbe, A. M. (2018). Suicidal behaviors in college students: Frequency, sex differences, and mental health correlates including sluggish cognitive tempo. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(2), 181-188.
Bilsen, J. (2018). Suicide and youth: Risk factors. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 540.
Carod-Artal, F. J. (2017). Social determinants of mental health. In S. Bährer-Kohler & F. J. Carod-Artal (Eds.), Global mental health: Prevention and Promotion (pp. 33–46). Springer International Publishing.
Chan, Y. Y., Lim, K. H., Teh, C. H., Kee, C. C., Ghazali, S. M., Lim, K. K., ... & Ibrahim, N. (2018). Prevalence and risk factors associated with suicidal ideation among adolescents in Malaysia. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 30(3).
Chua, S. N., & Rao, M. V. (2021). Youth suicide in Malaysia. Relate Mental Health Malaysia. Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs.
Commonwealth. (2016b). Commonwealth Youth Development Index. National and Regional Toolkit: A Guide for Developing Regional and National Youth Development Indices. London (UK): The Commonwealth Secretariat.
Courtney, D., Watson, P., Battaglia, M., Mulsant, B. H., & Szatmari, P. (2020). COVID-19 impacts on child and youth anxiety and depression: Challenges and opportunities. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 65(10), 688-691.
Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2020). Cause of death 2019. https://newss.statistics.gov.my/ newss-portalx/ep/epFreeDownloadContentSearch. seam?cid=489944
Denda, K., Kako, Y., Kitagawa, N., & Koyama, T. (2006). Assessment of depressive symptoms in Japanese school children and adolescents using the Birleson Depression Self-Rating Scale. The International Journal of Psychiatry In Medicine, 36(2), 231-241.
Dialan, S., & Almigo, N. (2021). The Prevalence of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) Among Higher Education Students In Malaysia. OPTIMA: Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 1(1),73-87
Fauzi, M. F., Anuar, T. S., Teh, L. K., Lim, W. F., James, R. J., Ahmad, R., ... & Salleh, M. Z. (2021). Stress, anxiety and depression among a cohort of health sciences undergraduate students: The prevalence and risk factors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(6), 3269.
Gutowski, E., White, A. E., Liang, B., Diamonti, A. J., & Berado, D. (2018). How stress influences purpose development: The importance of social support. Journal of Adolescent Research, 33(5), 571-597.
Gearing, R. E., & Lizardi, D. (2009). Religion and suicide. Journal of religion and health, 48(3), 332-341.
Hamzah, N. S. A., Farid, N. D. N., Yahya, A., Chin, C., Su, T. T., Rampal, S. R. L., & Dahlui, M. (2019). The prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety and stress of the first year undergraduate students in a public higher learning institution in Malaysia. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(12), 3545-3557.
Hamzah, S.R., Ismail, M. & Mohd Nor, Z. 2018. Does attachment to parents and peers influence health literacy among adolescents in Malaysia? Kontakt 20(4): e348-e355.
Heim, E., Maercker, A., & Boer, D. (2019). Value orientations and mental health: a theoretical review. Transcultural Psychiatry, 56(3), 449-470.
Ibrahim, N., Amit, N., Che Din, N., & Ong, H. C. (2017). Gender differences and psychological factors associated with suicidal ideation among youth in Malaysia. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 10, 129–135.
Ibrahim, N., Che Din, N., Ahmad, M., Amit, N., Ghazali, S. E., Wahab, S., ... & A Halim, M. R. T. (2019). The role of social support and spiritual wellbeing in predicting suicidal ideation among marginalized adolescents in Malaysia. BMC Public Health, 19(4), 1-8.
Ibrahim, N., Amit, N., & Suen, M. (2014). Psychological Factors as Predictors of Suicidal Ideation among Adolescents in Malaysia. Plos ONE, 9(10), e110670.
Inhelder, B., & Piaget, J. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence: An essay on the construction of formal operational structures (Vol. 22). London, Psychology Press.
Institute for Public Health (IPH), National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia. National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS). (2019): Vol. I: NCDs-Non-Communicable Diseases: Risk Factors and Other Health Problem; Technical Report; Institute for Public Health, Ministry of Health: Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, 2019.
Institute for Public Health (IPH), National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia. National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) (2017). Adolescent Health and Nutrition Survey; Technical Report; Institute for Public Health, Ministry of Health: Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia, 2017.
Ishak, N. A., Ahmad, N. S., & Omar, M. N. (2020). Issues and trends of depression among students in Malaysia. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 8(11B), 5951-5957.
Islam, M. A., Low, W. Y., Tong, W. T., Yuen, C. W., & Abdullah, A. (2018). Factors associated with depression among University Students in Malaysia: A cross-sectional study. KnE Life Sciences, 415-427.
Javed, S., and Munawar, K. (2021), "Factors related to suicide among students: A narrative review of psychological literature", Mental Health Review Journal, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 238-246.
Kaswadi, K. A., Malik, A., & Ooi, B. K. (2018). Anxiety and academic achievement among undergraduate students. Journal Management and Science, 16(2), 11-18.
Kok, J. K., & Goh, L. Y. (2012). Anomic or egoistic suicide: Suicide factors among Malaysian youths. International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, 2(1), 47.
Kok, J. K., & Low, S. K. (2019). Risk factors contributing to vulnerability of mental health disorders and the protective factors among Malaysian youth. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 7(2), 102-112.
Latiff, L. A., Tajik, E., Ibrahim, N., Bakar, A. S. A., & Ali, S. S. A. (2017). Psychosocial Problem and its Associated Factors Among Adolescents in the Secondary Schools in Pasir Gudang, Johor. Mal. J. Med. Health Science, 13(1), 35-44.
Latiff, L. A., Sidik, S. M., Ibrahim, N., Othman, N., & Bakar, A. S. A. (2015). Prevalence of anxiety and its association with socio-demographic factors among secondary school students in Pasir Gudang district, Johor. International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences, 2(6), 104-112.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer Publishing Company.
Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(3), 335-343.
Majeed, H., & Lee, J. (2017). The impact of climate change on youth depression and mental health. The Lancet Planetary Health, 1(3), e94-e95.
Mathers, C. D., & Loncar, D. (2006). Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Medicine, 3(11), e442.
McMahon, G., Creaven, A. M., & Gallagher, S. (2020). Stressful life events and adolescent well-being: The role of parent and peer relationships. Stress and health : Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress, 36(3), 299–310.
Miloyan, B., Bulley, A., Bandeen-Roche, K., Eaton, W. W., & Gonçalves-Bradley, D. C. (2016). Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 51(11), 1467–1475.
Milligan, M., See, H. P., Beck, H. P., Crawford, S., and Doss, K. M. (2022). Suicidality: College students’ attitudes and behaviours in Malaysia. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies 18 (1): 151–167.
Mohamed, N. A., Silva, J. L. D., Samah, A. A., Shafril, H. A. M., & Dahalan, D. (2018). Exploring Contributing Factors on Holistic Well-being among Malaysian Youth. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(3), 391–400.
Ramli, N. H., Alavi, M., Mehrinezhad, S. A., & Ahmadi, A. (2018). Academic stress and self-regulation among university students in Malaysia: Mediator role of mindfulness. Behavioral Sciences, 8(1), 12.
Renwick, L., Pedley, R., Johnson, I., Bell, V., Lovell, K., Bee, P., & Brooks, H. (2022). Mental health literacy in children and adolescents in low-and middle-income countries: a mixed studies systematic review and narrative synthesis. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-01997-6
Rosenstock, I. M., Strecher, V. J., & Becker, M. H. (1988). Social learning theory and the health belief model. Health Education Quarterly, 15(2), 175-183.
Shamsuddin, K., Fadzil, F., Ismail, W. S. W., Shah, S. A., Omar, K., Muhammad, N. A., … Mahadevan, R. (2013). Correlates of depression, anxiety and stress among Malaysian university students. Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 6(4), 318–323.
Silva, S. A., Silva, S. U., Ronca, D. B., Gonçalves, V., Dutra, E. S., & Carvalho, K. (2020). Common mental disorders prevalence in adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analyses. PloS one, 15(4), e0232007.
Sokol, J. T. (2009). Identity development throughout the lifetime: An examination of Eriksonian theory. Graduate journal of counseling psychology, 1(2), 14.
Srinath, S., Kandasamy, P., & Golhar, T. S. (2010). Epidemiology of child and adolescent mental health disorders in Asia. Current opinion in psychiatry, 23(4), 330-336.
Tamizi, N. A. M., & Perveen, A. (2021). The Role of Stress, Depression and Social Support in Students’ Suicidal Ideation among University Students in Malaysia. International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology, 9 (1), 1-11.
Ventriglio, A., Torales, J., Castaldelli-Maia, J. M., De Berardis, D., & Bhugra, D. (2021). Urbanization and emerging mental health issues. CNS Spectrums, 26(1), 43-50.
World Health Organization. (2017). Depression and other common mental disorders: global health estimates. Rep. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO, World Health Org., Geneva. Available online: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/254610/WHOMSD?sequence=1
World Health Organization. (?2014)?. Preventing suicide: A global imperative. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/131056
World Health Organization. (2017). Depression and other common mental disorders: global health estimates (No. WHO/MSD/MER/2017.2). World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (?2019)?. Suicide in the world: global health estimates. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/326948.
Zaremohzzabieh, Z., D’Silva, J. L., Samah, A. A., Dahalan, D., Mohamed, N. A., & Shaffril, H. A. M. (2019). Malaysian Youth Well-Being Scale: Development and initial validation. Asia-Pacific Social Science Review, 19(2), 192-205.