The Relationship Between Spiritual Well-Being and Psychological Distress in Indonesian College Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58421/gehu.v5i1.909Keywords:
Spiritual Well-Being, Psychological Distress, University StudentAbstract
This study addresses the high prevalence of psychological distress among university students in Indonesia and the limited empirical evidence regarding protective psychological resources within a religious–cultural context. The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between spiritual well-being and psychological distress, including its core dimensions of depression, anxiety, and stress. A quantitative approach was employed using a cross-sectional correlational design. Data were collected from 327 undergraduate students via an online survey using the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The data were analyzed using Spearman’s Rho correlation technique. The findings demonstrate a strong and statistically significant negative relationship between spiritual well-being and overall psychological distress (ρ = −0.662), indicating that higher spiritual well-being is associated with lower levels of psychological distress. Further analysis revealed that spiritual well-being was most strongly related to depression (ρ = −0.715), followed by anxiety (ρ = −0.618) and stress (ρ = −0.476). These results confirm the role of spiritual well-being as a significant protective factor against psychological distress among Indonesian university students.
Downloads
References
S. Aggarwal, J. Wright, A. Morgan, G. Patton, and N. Reavley, “Religiosity and spirituality in the prevention and management of depression and anxiety in young people: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” BMC Psychiatry, vol. 23, no. 1, p. 729, 2023.
S. D. Alfian, H. Ng, D. P. Destiani, and R. Abdulah, “Psychological distress induces poor sleep quality: A cross-sectional study of pharmacy students in Bandung City, Indonesia,” The Open Public Health Journal, vol. 11, no. 1, 2018.
Z. Al Azdi et al., “Gender differences in mental health help-seeking behaviour in Bangladesh: Findings from a cross-sectional online survey,” BMJ Open, vol. 15, no. 5, p. e091933, 2025.
F. Apandi, W. Widuri, and R. Islamarida, “Hubungan kesejahteraan spiritual dengan stres mahasiswa di masa pandemi Covid-19,” Jurnal Keperawatan Tropis Papua, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–7, 2023.
Z. K. Asih, A. Sukino, and F. Sukmawati, “Spiritualitas Islam sebagai faktor protektif kesehatan mental: Tinjauan interdisipliner,” Kartika: Jurnal Studi Keislaman, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 895–908, 2025.
R. K. Bufford, R. F. Paloutzian, and C. W. Ellison, “Norms for the Spiritual Well-Being Scale,” Journal of Psychology and Theology, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 56–70, 1991.
P. Butterworth, B. Rodgers, and T. D. Windsor, “Financial hardship, socioeconomic position and depression,” Social Science & Medicine, vol. 69, no. 2, pp. 229–237, 2009.
B. A. Dachew et al., “Prevalence and determinants of mental distress among university students in Ethiopia,” Systematic Reviews, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 47, 2019.
L. Favril, R. Yu, A. Uyar, M. Sharpe, and S. Fazel, “Risk factors for suicide in adults,” Evidence Based Mental Health, vol. 25, no. 4, 2022.
F. Faul, E. Erdfelder, A.-G. Lang, and A. Buchner, “G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program,” Behavior Research Methods, vol. 39, pp. 175–191, 2007.
S. Folkman and R. S. Lazarus, “Coping as a mediator of emotion,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 54, no. 3, p. 466, 1988.
A. E. Gaffey et al., “Screening for psychological distress and cardiovascular disease risk,” Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 404–415, 2022.
GBD, “Global burden of 12 mental disorders,” The Lancet Psychiatry, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 137–150, 2022.
R. Gomez and J. W. Fisher, “Domains of spiritual well-being,” Personality and Individual Differences, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 1975–1991, 2003.
M. A. Hakim and N. V. Aristawati, “Uji validitas dan reliabilitas DASS-21,” Jurnal Psikologi Ulayat, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 232–250, 2023.
Hamka et al., “Spiritual well-being, depression, anxiety, and stress,” Psychology Research and Behavior Management, pp. 3013–3025, 2022.
J. Hammermeister et al., “Gender differences in spiritual well-being,” American Journal of Health Studies, vol. 20, 2005.
J. Holt-Lunstad et al., “Spiritual well-being and physical health,” Journal of Behavioral Medicine, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 477–488, 2011.
L. H. Mortensen et al., “Socioeconomic differences in health,” Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, vol. 39, no. 7, pp. 110–114, 2011.
S. E. Jackson et al., “Trends in psychological distress,” JAMA Network Open, vol. 6, no. 7, 2023.
E. Jafari et al., “Spiritual well-being and mental health,” Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 5, pp. 1477–1481, 2010.
C. Kieling et al., “Worldwide prevalence of mental disorders,” JAMA Psychiatry, vol. 81, no. 4, pp. 347–356, 2024.
M. R. Kinanthi et al., “Adaptasi DASS-21 versi Indonesia,” Seminar Nasional Psikologi UMB, 2020.
H. G. Koenig, “Religion, spirituality, and health,” International Scholarly Research Notices, 2012.
B. B. Lahey, “Public health significance of neuroticism,” American Psychologist, vol. 64, no. 4, p. 241, 2009.
C. H. Leung and H. K. Pong, “Spiritual well-being and psychological health,” PLOS ONE, vol. 16, no. 4, 2021.
L. Liddon, R. Kingerlee, and J. A. Barry, “Gender differences in help-seeking,” British Journal of Clinical Psychology, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 42–58, 2018.
P. Limone and G. A. Toto, “Factors predisposing undergraduates to mental issues,” Frontiers in Public Health, vol. 10, 2022.
R. R. Marzo et al., “Psychological distress during COVID-19,” Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, vol. 10, p. 100708, 2021.
M. Mirzaei-Alavijeh et al., “Psychological distress among elderly,” Journal of Health Reports and Technology, vol. 11, 2025.
M. Necho et al., “Psychological distress during COVID-19,” International Journal of Social Psychiatry, vol. 67, no. 7, pp. 892–906, 2021.
B. Nekić, “Emerging adults and anxiety,” Psych, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 1019–1029, 2023.
R. F. Paloutzian et al., “The Spiritual Well-Being Scale,” in Assessing Spirituality in a Diverse World. Cham: Springer, 2020, pp. 413–444.
V. Patel et al., “Global mental health and sustainable development,” The Lancet, vol. 392, no. 10157, pp. 1553–1598, 2018.
I. P. Putri and E. Rekawati, “Spiritual well-being and depression,” Age, vol. 69, pp. 7–155, 2017.
H. K. Rahmat et al., “Factors influencing spiritual well-being,” Journal of Health and Spirituality, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 43–58, 2022.
J. W. Santrock, Life-Span Development. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2015.
Z. Taheri-Kharameh et al., “Religious-spiritual well-being and anxiety,” Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 30–35, 2016.
R. O. Tumanggor and A. Dariyo, “Peran spiritual well-being,” Jurnal Ketahanan Nasional, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 1–15, 2021.
S. Viertiö et al., “Psychological distress in the working population,” BMC Public Health, vol. 21, p. 611, 2021.
M. A. Whisman, “Marital distress and psychiatric disorders,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 116, no. 3, p. 638, 2007.
D. R. Williams and S. A. Mohammed, “Discrimination and health disparities,” Journal of Behavioral Medicine, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 20–47, 2009.
E. Yulina et al., “Academic stress and mental health,” Journal of Comprehensive Science, vol. 4, no. 7, 2025.
B. Zarzycka et al., “Spiritual well-being and psychological well-being,” Journal of Religion and Health, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 4191–4214, 2024.
Downloads
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of General Education and Humanities
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
sidebar
Contact Us
Visitor Statistics
| Information |
>> For Authors
>> For Readers
>> For Librarians
| Visitor Statistics |
| Member of |
| Indexing |
| Keywords |
Student Creativity Experimental Method ARIAS Structuralism Literature Conceptions Phenomenography Student learning Academic Writing linguistic Motivation Reciprocal teaching Effectiveness Mathematical concept Guided Note Taking Students' understanding Education TVET misconceptions Van Hiele Motivational factors Shadow education Private tutoring CRI interviews curriculum Evaluation Translation and Transcription Communication scientific Bilingual Motivation Mathematics
GEHU is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
| Publisher |
Address:
Jl. Gagak N0.105, Bandung,
Indonesia 40133
E-mail:
journalgehu@gmail.com
| in collaboration with |
| Recommended Tools |
| ISSN Barcode |
