Understanding Academic Performance based on Gender, Race, Stress and Sleep Quality
Abstract
This study aims to explore gender, race, stress and sleep quality as factors which influence the academic performance of undergraduate students. The samples of study involved 80 students from the Faculty of Cognitive Science and Human Development, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. Questionnaire used in the data collection comprising demographic information, stress questionnaire (Student Stress Inventory (SSI)) and sleep quality questionnaire (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)). The academic performance of the undergraduate students in this study was measured by their cumulative grade point average (CGPA). The result of the study showed that female students performed better than male students; whilst non-Bumiputera students performed better than Bumiputera students. The study also found that the higher the stress level of a student (SSI score), the lower his or her CGPA results. Moreover, the findings showed that there is a significant difference in FCSHD undergraduates’ academic performance based on their sleep quality, in which the mean of CGPA for students with good sleep quality is higher than that of students with bad sleep quality. Ultimately, the study reveals that gender and race do play a part in the academic performance of students and having good sleep quality and a little bit of stress is equally important in learning and helpful in attaining good grades and hence, should be leveraged by students.
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