Bullying and Mental Health

Malaysian Youth Mental Health and Well-Being Survey By Dr Teoh Hsien-Jin Woo Pei Jun Cheong Sau Kuan Department of Psychology School of Health & Natural Sciences Sunway University College Introduction and Literature Review The rates of mental health problems amongst Malaysian teenagers have been noted to be quite high. At present the percentage of emotional problems is 49% and aggressiveness is 41%. These findings were highlighted by the Ministry of Health's Healthy Life-Style Campaign National Mental Health Survey in 2000. Recently, the Ministry of Youth and Sports set up the National Institute for Youth Research (i.e., Institut Penyelidikan Belia Nasional). The aim of the Institute would involve advising the Minister of Youth and Sports about Youth policies. Data provides a rationale and basis for the implementation of National policies, and it is thus envisaged that having a large body of data which informs of the current trends of youth attitudes, life-styles and well-being would be a necessity. Given the concerns with the rates of mental health problems amongst youth, this study was requested by the Minister of Youth and Sports to get a general overview, not just into the mental health status of Malaysian youth, but also into their lifestyles. This report begin with a literature review that examines some of the know findings about various aspects of youth lifestyle that are covered in the study. In addition to mental health, the review covers such topics as social support, substance abuse, sexual behaviours, pet ownership, bullying and family conflict. All these topics have been found to have some impact on youth mental health, and inform the reader about youth lifestyles. The report next provides some information on the methodological aspects of the study pertaining to subjects, sampling, measurement instruments and data collection procedures. The results are presented in the form of a series of tables that document the prevalence of various youth attitudes