| Summary: | As college students are being in a period of transitioning from teenage years to
adulthood, they typically will experience multiple levels of psychological distress, and
these stressors influence their studies. This research presents to investigate the
relationship between psychological distress and academic adjustment in technical
college students in Kuching, Sarawak. This research used a quantitative approach with a
cross-sectional survey. The instruments in this study applied Counseling Center
Assessment of Psychological Symptoms-34 (CCAPS-34) for psychological distress
domains and Academic Adjustment Scale (AAS) for academic adjustment domains. The
students were given a web link to the survey questionnaire. The respondents in this
research are 303 students of semester three; consist of 146 male students and 157 female
students. Overall, there is a significant correlation between psychological distress and
academic adjustment, and there is a significant difference between psychological
distress and gender. Female students had a significantly higher mean score of
psychological domains than males, although psychological distress such as general
anxiety and hostility occurred in the same manner. Besides, psychological distress
domains have affected students’ academic adjustment in their college years as the
significant (2-tailed) values showed a statistically significant correlation between these
variables. For these reasons, both null hypotheses are rejected. With this, psychological
distress is unexceptional towards tertiary education learners and has a negative impact
on an individual and their educational setting. In order to improve learners’ academic
performance, it is crucial to have more focus on the psychological wellbeing of college
students.
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