Happiness, perceived stress, psychological well-being, and health behaviors of thai university students: preliminary results from a multinational study on well-being

Abstract

Objective: Describe and compare levels of happiness, psychological well-being, perceived stress, and health behaviors of university students. Participants: Thai university students were selected (N = 478) during November 2016 using random cluster sampling. Methods: A health and well-being questionnaire was constructed, translated from English to Thai, back-translated, and pilot tested. Descriptive and chi-square statistics were calculated for study variables. Results: Thai male students had lower happiness and psychological well-being than Thai female students. Overall, Thai students had lower happiness and higher perceived stress than US/UK samples. Thai male students reported greater alcohol and tobacco use than Thai female students. Overall, Thai students reported inadequate diet (57%), poor sleep quantity/quality (67%) and depressive symptoms (40%). Conclusions: These preliminary results identify specific areas of concern in the health and well-being of Thai university students. Further analyses are needed to shed light on the factors contributing to these increased health risks. © 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.