THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN MENTAL HEALTH AND STUDENT LIFE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: AN EXAMINATION OF CONTRIBUTING FACTORS AND RESILIENCE STRATEGIES

Psychological issues affecting university students—mainly depression, anxiety, and stress; burnout from overwork; and financial pressure—along with the factors that cause them, have now become a focus of attention, as the university system increasingly recognizes their effect on student academic performance, engagement, and retention. In this article, the authors combine empirical research findings with well-established models from psychology, mainly the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping by Lazarus and Folkman and Luthans' Psychological Capital (PsyCap) model. They explore the sources of distress—including heavy assessment loads, fear of negative evaluation, institutional transition, and financial pressure—as well as the sources of protective effects, such as confidence in one's academic skills, mindfulness as a stress-reduction practice, peer support systems, and positive coping techniques. Research finds that depression and burnout lower both GPA and the likelihood of graduating on time—or at all. Anxiety, by contrast, appears to hinder performance primarily by affecting the cognitive functioning involved in taking an exam, particularly working memory capacity. Resilience assets and identification with one's college are two significant factors that help offset the negative effects of stressful circumstances, but as stress becomes heavier or more prolonged, these protective effects tend to fade. Academic resilience—understood here as the ability developed through external resources, such as freedom from study constraints and community support, and personal resources, such as self-efficacy—directly reinforces students' engagement and well-being and mediates the relationship between these resources and desired psychological outcomes. The review also highlights shortcomings in the existing literature, including inconsistency of results and the risks of co-rumination with peers who are similarly stressed, and offers practical recommendations for universities to implement.