The Impact of Perfectionism and Academic Resilience on Subjective Well-being among Korean Undergraduate Students

INTRODUCTION

Korean undergraduate students have difficulties such as financial burdens related to tuition and living expenses, pressure for purposeless qualification boosting, identity crisis, difficulty in forming bonds due to lack of emotional buffer zone. In addition, the number of Korean undergraduate students suffering from depression due to academic and employment stress increased by 22% compared to 2017 (University News Network, 2018). Recently, as the interest in and subjective judgement on the quality of life of an individual is increasing, various terms, such as subjective quality of life, life satisfaction, happiness, and subjective well-being are being used (Diener et al., 2017). Higher subjective well-being means high levels of positive emotions, such as life satisfaction, happiness and pleasure, and low levels of negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety (Jeong, 2019). Korean undergraduate students are reported to have significantly lower subjective well-being than American undergraduate students (Koo & Suh, 2015).

Perfectionism has a multidimensional attributes. Self-oriented perfectionism establishes high standards for oneself and strictly evaluates and criticizes oneself according to them, while other-oriented perfectionism establishes high standards for others who are important to oneself and strictly evaluates them. In socially-prescribed perfectionism, high standards are imposed and evaluated by others and people think they will be rejected if they fail to meet their standard (Hewitt, Flett, Turnbull-Donovan, & Mikail, 1991). Many of previous studies reported positive and negative aspects, and functional and dysfunctional aspects of these perfectionism. Perfectionism is related with maladaptive emotion by raising depression and anxiety level and increasing stress (Im & Shim, 2015). In contrast, perfectionism improves the individual’s self-esteem and self-efficacy (Chun & Song, 2012; Ma & Kim, 2015) and psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and positive affect in their life (Hill, Huelsman, & Araujo, 2010). Also, Perfectionism shows excellent ability in performance. It is related to hope of success, motivation for school, school achievement, and academic performance in students (Stoeber & Rambow, 2007).

Resilience is a dynamic process that exerts positive adaptive capacity in various stressful situations (Fergus & Zimmerman, 2005), leading to positive psychological well-being and increasing it psychological well-being by mediating negative emotions such as depression and anger (Windle, Bennett, & Noyes, 2011). Resilience is divided into ego resilience, family resilience, and academic resilience because it is necessary to identify resilience within various social relationships such as family and school (Kim, 2016). Previous studies that confirmed the resilience of undergraduate students had a limitation that they mainly deal with ego resilience aspects such as individual traits and characteristics alone (Kilbert et al., 2014). For undergraduate students, it is important to identify academic resilience that takes into account the environmental context surrounding them, rather than ego resilience that reflects the individual’s traits (Kim, 2016). In recent years, interest in academic resilience of undergraduate students has increased, but there are not many previous studies and there is no consistent result. Academic resilience shows weakly positive correlation with subjective happiness of undergraduate students (Park & Kwon, 2018), and academic resilience of nursing students is an influencing factor of psychological well-being (Jin & Kim, 2017). However, there is a lack of study that confirms the relationship among perfectionism, academic resilience and subjective well-being in undergraduate students.

Therefore, this study is designed to investigate the effects of perfectionism and academic resilience on subjective well-being of undergraduate students. The specific objectives to achieve our study's goal are as follows: 1) to measure the degree of perfectionism, academic resilience and subjective well-being of the individual subjects; 2) to examine differences in subjective well-being by the general characteristics of the subjects; 3) to test correlations among perfectionism, academic resilience and subjective well-being; and 4) to find out factors that affect the subjective well-being of the subjects. Furthermore, this study aims to provide basic data for development of intervention programs to promote subjective well-being of undergraduate students.

METHODS

RESULTS

1. General Characteristics of the Participants

The participants’ mean age was 21.41±1.95 (range: 19~31); with 97 (39.6%) men and 148 women (60.4%); 102 (41.6%) lived in dormitory; 175 (71.4%) had a religion. In terms of the school years, 138 (56.3%) was in their 1st year and 56 (22.9%) was in 2nd year. In terms of the participants’ college majors, 79 (32.2%) was from college of natural science, 60 (24.5%) was from college of social studies, 45 (18.4%) was from college of engineering, and 24 (9.8%) was college belonged to college of humanities. And 192 (78.4%) of participants reported that their major is either “satisfied” or “very satisfied”. Further, 190 (77.5%) of participants reported about their school life being either “satisfied” or “very satisfied”(Table 1).

Table 1.

Differences in Subjective Well-being by General Characteristics (N=245)

2. Degree of Perfectionism, Academic Resilience and Subjective Well-being of the Participants

The participants’ average total score for SOP was 64.64±12.78 points; 53.62±8.90 for OOP; 56.98±8.96 for SPP. The average total score for academic resilience were 92.60±19.55. The average total score for subjective well-being was 82.93±9.72. The skewness and kurtosis of the variables did not digress widely from the assumption of normal distribution, as their absolute values were within the ±1 range (Table 2).

Table 2.

Degree of Perfectionism, Academic Resilience and Subjective Well-being (N=245)

4. Relationship between the Variables of the Participants

Subjective well-being had a weak negative relation with SPP (r=-.27, p<.001), but was not statistically significant with SOP (r=-.01, p=.877) and OOP (r=-.09, p=.152). Subjective well-being had a weak positive relation with each of the subscale and total score of academic resilience with statistical significance. In other words, subjective well-being was negatively correlated with academic control (r=.14, p=.035), friend’s support (r=.17, p=.009), self-control (r=.14, p=.030), positive attitude (r=.23, p<.001), task responsibility (r=.16, p=.011), parent’s support (r=.15, p=.016), and total score (r=.20, p<.001)(Table 3).

Table 3.

Correlation of Perfectionism, Academic Resilience and Subjective Well-being (N=245)

5. Factors affecting Subjective Well-being of the Participants

Stepwise linear multiple regression was performed by SSP, academic resilience and general characteristics that were significantly associated with subjective well-being as the independent variables to identify the factors that can affect the subjective well-being of the participants.

In order to test the assumption of linear regression analysis, normality and multicollinearity among all variables were checked. To check for multicollinearity among the independent variables for the multiple regression analysis, variation inflation factors (VIF) were calculated, with the range of the VIFs between the variables being determined as 1.002 ~1.007; VIF values under 10 indicated an absence of multicollinearity. The Durbin-Watson statistic was 2.04, indicating that the error terms were independent from each other, without any autocorrelation. So it is sufficient to satisfy the assumption for multiple regression analysis.

The stepwise linear multiple regression analysis showed that the participants’ satisfaction with school life (β=.34, p<.001), SSP (β=-.25, p<.001) and academic resilience (β=.17, p=.003) explained approximately 22% of subjective well-being (F=22.99, p<.001) (Table 4).

Table 4.

Factors Affecting Subjective Well-being (N=245)

The scattering of the standardized residuals and the uniformity of the residuals through the P-P plot and the normality were examined. As a result of verifying the singular value, the standardized residual was less than the absolute value of 3, and it was confirmed that there was no singular value because the range of Cook’s distance did not exceed the absolute value of 1.

DISCUSSION

This study was performed to investigate the relationship among perfectionism, academic resilience and subjective well-being, and to identify the factors that affect subjective well-being. In this study’ results, SPP and academic resilience was influencing factors that affect subjective well-being.

The SOP, OOP, and SPP of undergraduate students was 64.64 (mean score 4.31), 53.62 (mean score 3.57), and 56.98 (mean score 3.80). The perfectionism in this study was low compared with the results of previous studies (Kilbert et al., 2014; Moon, 2012). Perfectionism of nursing students showed that SOP was 4.89 and SPP was 4.27 (Noh, 2017), and OOP of female college students was 61.17 (Moon, 2012). SOP for undergraduate students was 4.63, and SPP for undergraduate was 4.05 (Ma & Kim, 2015). Perfectionism can be developed by realistic external situations exposed to the individual (Han, 1993). Therefore, students' learning environment and required attitude will be different according to the characteristics of each major field. As the grade increases, the degree of exposure to major study increases, so the difference may become more obvious. Other previous studies were targeted to students of specific majors (Kilbert et al., 2014; Noh, 2017), but in this study, students of various majors participated as subjects, and students in first and second grades accounted for most of the subjects. For this reason, the results of this study were different from the previous studies. So, in the environmental factors, it is necessary to confirm the difference in perfectionism perceived by the subject according to the characteristics of each major’s curriculum. We need to conduct longitudinal research to find out how one’s perfectionism changes along time.

On the other hand, the SOP was the highest among the three types of perfectionism in this study. SOP values the importance of being perfect in dealing with or setting goals (Hewitt et al., 1991), which is a reflection of the positive aspects of college students in this study who set goals and do their best to achieve their goals. This supports the study result that SOP is higher than SPP in undergraduate students with medicine-related majors (Chun & Song, 2012). Considering the various characteristics of the participants, we need to compare the degree of SPP, OPP, and SPP, and to study how to reinforce their adaptive and functional aspects.

The academic resilience in the participants of this study was 92.60 (mean score 3.19). This was higher than Park and Kwon’s (2018) finding that the academic resilience of college students, measured by the same instrument, ranged from 62.~73.0 points. On the other hand, it was lower than the studies that reported the academic resilience of nursing students, which are 3.77 (Noh, 2017), 3.66 (Jin & Kim, 2017), and 3.39 (Shin, 2016) respectively. Academic resilience decreases with lower satisfaction with the major (Jin & Kim, 2017), and students with high academic resilience have high motivation to study and are positive in college life (Park & Lee, 2015). Academic resilience also has an effect on controlling the relationship between academic stress and burnout (Lee, 2014) but didn’t have moderating effect between academic stress and depression in nursing students (Shin, 2016). Academic resilience can be influenced by various factors such as college life, major, and learning method, but these factors are not controlled, and the results of the study seem to be different. Therefore, it is necessary to fully consider these various characteristics of the research subjects when examining the academic resilience of university students. In addition, since academic resilience is a positive factor in adaptation to college life, it is necessary to pay attention to academic resilience and prepare various strategies to increase it.

The subjective well-being in the participants of this study was 82.93 (mean score 2.76), which was similar to the study results where psychological well-being of the nursing students was 2.73, although they used different measurement tools (Jin & Kim, 2017). Jeong (2019) measured the subjective well-being of college students with positive and negative emotions, with 2.65 points and 2.25 points, respectively, which showed lower affirmations than adult learners. Koo and Suh (2015) found that Korean college students had lower subjective well-being than American college students. As there are differences in measurement tools by each studies, direct comparisons are difficult. However, Korean university students experience a lot of negative emotions while experiencing anxiety and uncertainty about the future (Jeong, 2019), and the unhappiness due to increasing youth unemployment. It seems that subjective well-being is not expected to be high in this threatening situation. Also, there was a significant differences regarding participants’ satisfaction with major and satisfaction with school life. This supports the study that undergraduate students are more satisfied with their overall life and experience positive emotions when their school life is satisfactory (Kim & Lee, 2013). People with high subjective well-being are known to have more positive moods or emotions in their daily lives and to have good problem-solving ability and social relationships (Lee, 2013). Therefore, it is necessary to pay more attention to the subjective well-being, which can provide a healthier and positive perspective for the college students who choose and prepare their own careers, by encouraging their efforts, for example.

The subjective well-being of the participants had negative relation with perfectionism, while it had positive relation with academic resilience. This supports a study that showed SPP and subjective well-being were negatively related with significance (Kim & Lee, 2013), and another study that showed a positive correlation between academic resilience and happiness of college students (Park & Kwon, 2018). Satisfaction with school life, SPP, and academic resilience were identified as factors influencing subjective well-being and explained about 22.3% of the variance in subjective well-being. The results of this study partially supported the results of SOP and SPP significantly predicting subjective well-being (Jin & Seo, 2014). In the case of nursing students, academic achievement and satisfaction with major had an effect on subjective well-being (Jun, Cha, & Lee, 2015). SPP is a property that others are considered to have high standards and rigorously evaluate themselves according to those standards, with fear that they might be rejected if they do not meet them (Hewitt et al., 1991). It is known to make one experience more negative emotions, such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and fear of negative feedback (Kilbert et al., 2014; Smith, Saklofske, & Yan, 2015). On the other hand, in the present study, SOP was not identified as an influencing factor of subjective well-being. If the SOP is high, university students may experience stress due to the difference between their reality and their goals, but they may feel that they can solve this stress if they perceive that they have enough support (Cho & Lim, 2018). In addition, Cho and Lim (2018) reported that university students experienced less test anxiety, even with higher SOPs, but with higher academic self-efficacy. Therefore, researchers should identify the causal relationship between academic resilience when identifying perfectionism and subjective well-being. And also, variable such as social support perceived by university students need to be considered as an influencing factor of subjective well-being.

Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to focus on academic resilience and SPP of undergraduate students and develop a plan to increase the academic resilience and moderate SPP when planning nursing intervention for the promotion of subjective well-being of undergraduate students. Further studies would need to expand the participants and identify perfectionism, academic resilience and subjective well-being by reflecting the various psychosocial and environmental characteristics. In addition, we propose a longitudinal study that identifies and tracks the change of these variables from 1st year through 4th year, and a study that develops and applies the intervention program that can facilitate subjective well-being in the undergraduate students.

A limitation of this study was a cross-sectional survey to investigate perfectionism, academic resilience and subjective well-being in participants. And in this study, data were collected by convenience sampling in one university located S city in South Korea, so it should be taken carefully not to expand the interpretation of the results.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree of perfectionism, academic resilience, and subjective well-being of college students, and to examine the relationships among these variables to provide basic data to enhance their subjective well-being. As a result, university students’ satisfaction with college life, SPP and academic resilience were found to be factors influencing their subjective well-being. Therefore, when planning an intervention program to increase the subjective well-being of college students, a strategy to enhance university life satisfaction and academic resilience is needed, and to strengthen the positive aspects of perfectionism by adjusting the SPP is also recommended.

Based on the results of this study, we propose a repeated study that considers various demographic variables and expands the subjects. We propose a study to identify the causal relationships among SOP, OOP, SPP and subjective well-being, and suggest an interventional study that can contribute to enhancing the subjective well-being of college students.

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