CHAPTER 2

Review of Related Literature

This chapter deals with the review of literature related

to the present and current study. This is divided in five

parts:(1)Economic wellbeing and STEM students,(2)Mental

wellbeing and STEM students,(3)Wellbeing and Academic

performance,(4) Economic wellbeing and Mental Health and

(5)Synthesis.

Part One, Economic wellbeing and STEM students, discusses

the relationship of Economic wellbeing and STEM students.

Part two, mental wellbeing and STEM students, Explains

Mental wellbeing that affects STEM students.

Part three, Wellbeing and Academic performance, explains

the wellbeing that affects academic performance and their

relationship.

Part four, Economic wellbeing and Psychological Health,

discusses the relationship of Economic wellbeing and Mental

Health.

Part five, Synthesis, presents the summary of the

literature reviewed.

Economic Well Being and STEM Students

 Economic wellbeing people have their most basic

survival needs met and have sustainable income and assets so

they can prosper. A well-being economy recognizes that

people need to restore a harmonious relationship between

society and nature, enjoy a fair distribution of resources,

and live in healthy and resilient communities (Anna

chrysopoulo (2020).

In an ever-evolving world driven by technology and

innovation, investing in higher education, especially in

STEM fields, has become a crucial factor for the sustainable

growth of economies wellbeing. Science, Technology,

Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education plays a

pivotal role in shaping the future, driving research and

development, and fostering a skilled workforce. In this

article, we will explore the economic benefits of investing

in STEM higher education and why it is essential for the

prosperity of nations and the advancement of society. STEM

education offers a wide range of opportunities for

individuals to pursue careers in fields such as data

science, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, renewable

energy, and more (Varta ,2023).

 However, The National Science Foundation (2014) states

that, increasingly, governments around the world have come

to regard movement toward a knowledge-based economy as key

to economic progress. Realizing that this requires a well-

trained workforce, they have invested in upgrading and

expanding their higher education systems and broadening

participation in them. A reasonable indicator of the

importance of higher education is the percentage of a

nation's resources devoted to it, measured by the ratio of

expenditures on tertiary education to gross domestic

product. Between 2005 and 2009, this ratio rose in nearly

all OECD countries (National Science Foundation 2014).

Moreover, as economies continue to evolve and become more

technology-driven, the need for a scientifically and

technologically literate workforce will only grow, making

STEM education essential for societal development, economic

growth, and addressing global challenges. By nurturing

critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and creativity,

STEM education empowers individuals to shape the future,

drive research and innovation, and contribute to a

sustainable and prosperous world (Varta, 2023).

 Given the perceived importance of such innovation and

technology-driven change in economies today, it is not

surprising that STEM is a leading preoccupation of policy

makers across nations. Now, the key becomes evaluating the

ways in which countries promote STEM, and their

effectiveness. This study seeks to investigate the benefits

of STEM educational attainment, particularly at the post-

secondary level. It takes as its inspiration reports like

that by Marginson et al. (2013), which assert that science,

universal learning and economic prosperity all form a single

interdependent system, which perhaps finds its bridge in

STEM education.

Mental health and STEM students

"One in four" is a popular statistic used by mental

health organizations to represent the number of individuals

globally who will experience a mental illness in their

lifetime (World Health Organization 2001). This surprisingly

large number is often used in campaigns to stigmatize mental

health. For example, it is frequently used by organizations

on college campuses, such as the national organization

Active Minds, to promote attending to student mental health.

 Previous research has estimated that 15.6% of

undergraduates and 13% of graduate students screened

positive for a depressive or anxiety disorder (Eisenberg et

al. 2007). Even more alarming, 2.5% of undergraduates and

1.6% of graduate students reported suicidal thoughts in last

four weeks (Eisenberg et al. 2007). If there are

approximately 500 students in introductory biology at

University of Michigan in a given semester, those numbers

indicate about 78 of these students would screen positive

for anxiety and/or depression and about 13 would report

suicidal thoughts in the last four weeks. These numbers show

that mental health problems are prevalent on college

campuses and we should be concerned about student mental

health.

Moreover, some students are at greater risk for mental

health problems. Several socioeconomic characteristics have

been previously identified as associated with greater risk

of poor mental health. These include identifying as female,

"other" race, bisexual, living with parents/guardians,

financial struggles or a well-to-do upbringing (Eisenberg et

al. 2007), relationship stressors, low social support,

and/or being a victim of sexual violence (Hunt and Eisenberg

2010). Similarly, there is likely an idea amongst students

that science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)

students face extra pressures as well. All students need

access to

Mental health resources, but it is especially important to

ensure that students at greater risk are knowledgeable about

and have access to these resources.

Unfortunately, barriers can stand in the way of seeking

help. Previous research has found barriers to help-seeking

include lack of time, lack of perceived need for help,

wanting to deal with issues on their own, being unaware of

services or insurance coverage, and scepticism about

treatment effectiveness (Hunt and Eisenberg 2010; Lipson et

al. 2017).

Well-being and Academic Performance

World Health Organization (WHO) describes well-being as

a resource for healthy living" and 'positive state of health

that is more than the absence of illness and enables us to

function well: psychologically, physically, emotionally and

socially. People are social creatures who are mutually

dependent, relying on others for their well-being, just as

others rely on them.

Despite the elusive and overarching nature of well-being.

Its significance with respect to education is well

established in the literature (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1999;

Soykan et al. 2019). Students' positive and satisfying life-

experiences are expected to flourish as their well-being

increases (Pollard & Lee, 2003).Students' well- being may be

defined as the extent to which they feel a sense of

belonging and social inclusion in their academic environment

(Pang, 2018).

Students are considered as an impressive social class in

sustainable development; therefore, their well-being status

is a capital for society. Well-being is important

contributor to overall well-being in adolescents, as they

derive much of their sense of self-worth from the social

evaluations of their peers and important adults. Research

has shown that a strong or robust sense of social well-being

impacts upon young people's security, comfort, and affect

and contributes to positive functioning in adulthood

(Chervonsky & Hunt, 2019: Newton-Howes et al. 2015).

Student's wellbeing and academic performance are also

positively associated. Academic performance is the knowledge

gained which is assessed by marks by a teacher and/or

educational goals set by students and teachers to be

achieved over a specific period of time. Narad & Abdulla

(2016) .Student success," used interchangeably with academic

performance, encompasses academic achievement, attainment of

learning objectives, acquisition of desired skills and

competencies, satisfaction, persistence, and post-college

performance (Kuh et al. 2006; York et al. 2015).

Academic performance is related to the acquisition of

principles, generalization, capacity to perform efficiently

and certain manipulations of objects, symbols and ideas.

Academic performance is of great importance in the present

socioeconomic and cultural context.

Facets of well-being, such as gratitude, hope, and emotional

regulation, have been found to improve academic performance

across several areas. Gratitude increases students'

satisfaction with school and propels them in making and

pursuing intrinsic goals. It is positively correlated with

"higher GPAs, greater absorption in meaningful activities,

more life satisfaction, and more social integration." In

addition, emotional regulation helps students get along with

peers and teachers, exhibit prosaically behaviours, and

adjust to new classrooms (Furlong et al. 2018). Thus both

generally and specifically, well-being gives students a

happy though competitive advantage both inside and outside

the classroom. In general, students with higher levels of

psychological and emotional well-being also show higher

levels of academic achievement, but the relationship of

social well-being and academic performance has not been

examined. So there is a need to further explore the impact

of social well-being on academic performance among students.

Economic wellbeing and mental health

Depression, anxiety and stress are common mental health

issues and have become the world's most pressing public

health concerns. Data from the Global Health Data Exchange

suggests the state of poor mental health problem is growing,

with 17.3 percent or approximately 84 million people in

Europe are suffering from the mental health challenge.

Depression, anxiety, and stress are symptoms of poor mental

health with depression and anxiety become the two most

common mental health disorders in community (Organization,

2017). Likewise, a great concern of the public health is the

rise of the anxiety and mood disorders (Green glass et al.,

2015). Meanwhile, a finding by (Fiksenbaum et al., 2017)

also reported that 3.6% of people worldwide show the symptom

of anxiety disorders, and 4.4% are suffering from depressive

disorder. The mental health problem can lead to premature

mortality and affects the quality of life. Research have

also found mental health problems are among the most

important contributors to the burden of other diseases and

disability. Mental illness is a major source of loss of

productivity and wellbeing. Losing the mental stability is

additional burden to the economic development.

Many factors explain for mental health such as

psychosocial stress (AL Yousef, 2019), work related factors

(Mo et al., 2020) and socio-economic factors (Anderson et

al., 2018). Yet, statistics have shown for a consistent link

between how the mental condition is affected by the status

of economic wellbeing. As the world is facing serious issues

of poverty, income instability and poor economic status and

global financial crisis, more and more people are trapped in

the financial stress situations. Data from the World Health

Organization (WHO) indicates there is a steady rise in the

percentage of individuals suffering from the financial

hardship. This has triggered some worries on the financial

burden and explained for today's mental health crisis.

 Nowadays, the attention toward the personal financial

wellbeing is increasing. Generally economic wellbeing is

referring to person's ability to manage the current

situation and also ongoing of financial obligations. It is

how people feel secure about their financial matters at

present or in the future, as the financial ability to make

selections for them to enjoy life (Bureau, 2017). In fact,

economic wellbeing is associated with financial literacy and

financial behaviour. In the same way financial behaviour is

one of the components that relates to financial satisfaction

or financial wellbeing (Gerrans et al., 2014; Xiao et al.,

2014). Likewise, economic wellbeing is broadly defined as

the concept used to explain an individual's or a family's

financial situation (Mokhtar et al., 2015). It is a

subjective sentence towards person's financial status as in

condition of zero burden, financially happy and financial

healthy (Sabri & Zakaria, 2015). Certainly, economic

wellbeing also defines the perception of people's regarding

their financial knowledge and the way of controlling money

and monetary value (DeWitte et al., 2015).

Synthesis
 The main idea presented is this study was to determine

the Economic wellbeing, mental health and Academic

Performance of Stem students in order to evaluate if the

students are the greater risk for mental health problems and

socioeconomic characteristics have been previously

identified as associated with greater risk of poor mental

health. The related studies showed how

Economic wellbeing and Psychological Health play a vital

role in the potential of a student to perform well in class

and obtain academic achievement.

According to Anna chrysopoulo (2020) Economic wellbeing

people have their most basic survival needs met and have

sustainable income and assets so they can prosper. A well-

being economy recognizes that people need to restore a

harmonious relationship between society and nature, enjoy a

fair distribution of resources, and live in healthy and

resilient communities. World Health Organization (WHO)

describes well-being as a resource for healthy living" and

'positive state of health that is more than the absence of

illness and enables us to function well: psychologically,

physically, emotionally and socially. People are social

creatures who are mutually dependent, relying on others for

their well-being, just as others rely on them. Despite the

elusive and overarching nature of well-being. Its

significance with respect to education is well established

in the literature (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1999; Soykan et al.

2019). Students' positive and satisfying life-experiences

are expected to flourish as their well-being increases

(Pollar & Lee 2003). The study of Hunt and Eisenberg 2010.

Similarly, there is likely an idea amongst students that

science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students

face extra pressures as well. All students need access to

mental health resources, but it is especially important to

ensure that students at greater risk are knowledgeable about

and have access to these resources. Depression, anxiety and

stress are common mental health issues and have become the

world's most pressing public health concerns. Data from the

Global Health Data Exchange suggests the state of poor

mental health problem is growing, with 17.3 percent or

approximately 84 million people in Europe are suffering from

the mental health challenge. Depression, anxiety, and stress

are symptoms of poor mental health with depression and

anxiety become the two most common mental health disorders

in community (Organization, 2017).

All of the literature mentioned above are all cited and

relevant on this study, with this much information it should

be enough for the researcher to understand the point of the

study.