Correlating Demographics and Well-being among Rural College Students in the Philippines

Resti Tito Villarino (Cebu Technological University National Research Council of the Philippines)
Maureen Lorence Villarino (National Research Council of the Philippines West Visayas State University)
Maria Concepcion Temblor (Cebu Technological University National Research Council of the Philippines)
Prosper Bernard (Université du Québec à Montréal)
Michel Plaisent (Université du Québec à Montréal)

Nurse Media Journal of Nursing
Vol 13, No 1 (2023): (April 2023)

Background: College students’ well-being is influenced by various factors such as age, gender, and socio-economic levels, but research findings on their correlation are inconsistent.Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between age, gender, socio-economic levels, and well-being among college students in private and state colleges in Cebu and Bohol, Philippines.Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional design and recruited 178 college students using convenient sampling. The modified Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaning, and Accomplishment (PERMA) profiler questionnaire was used to measure well-being. Data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics 27, and Kendall’s tau and point-biserial correlation coefficient were used for data analysis.Results: The overall PERMA score of the respondents (7.05±1.60) indicated high functioning. The analyses did not reveal a significant relationship between age and gender with well-being, but a significant association was found between socio-economic levels and the overall PERMA scores (p<0.05).Conclusion: The study’s findings suggest socio-economic levels significantly impact college students’ well-being. Therefore, interventions and policies targeting socio-economic factors may effectively promote well-being among college students.