Amid the challenges experienced by married couples and families, the need to examine the factors associated with marital satisfaction is recognised across various communities and backgrounds. Nevertheless, research on Malaysian Christians remains limited, especially concerning religiosity and marital satisfaction. Therefore, this study provides a deeper understanding of marital satisfaction among Malaysian Christians, focusing on its association with the factor of religiosity. 62 participants responded to self-report scales – including the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale and the Religious Commitment Inventory-10 – and open-ended questions on marital satisfaction experience and marital views, values, and attitudes development. A one-sample t-test analysed the marital satisfaction level of Malaysian Christians and some amount of marital distress was indicated. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis established that religiosity significantly predicted marital satisfaction. The open-ended responses were analysed thematically and the identified themes pertaining to how married Malaysian Christians experience marital satisfaction and religiosity complemented the quantitative findings. These findings could inform the development of programmes on marriage and family life and assist marriage counsellors, family therapists and other mental health professionals to work more effectively with the Malaysian community. Couples and families may also gain awareness, insights and inspiration towards enriching their experiences within marriage and family life.

Objective: The onset of symptomatology in depression many a time occurs in adolescence. Although the symptoms of depression frequently appear during adolescence, the delays in detection often happen among young individuals due to the covert and internalizing nature of depression, self-embarrassments, attempts to conceal symptoms, and possibly due to poor insight. Cuijpers et al. (2006) demonstrated that early intervention especially in school will reduce the burden of disease later and yield better prognosis. Therefore, this study is aimed to evaluate the preliminary feasibility and practicality of a validated school-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) intervention program among Malaysian secondary school students who exhibits elevated depressive symptoms. Methods: A locally adapted and contextualized school-based CBT module for use with secondary school students having depressive symptoms was conducted via a single cohort study. The 8-session weekly CBT intervention was conducted among 10 (ten) Malaysian secondary school students (mean age=16) who reported elevated levels of depressive symptoms on a screening survey (N=98) via group approach. Results: The application of the validated school-based CBT module was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms and negative automatic thoughts among the students who were observed through the repeated measures and this was sustained until 1-month follow up period. Conclusion: This study answered the feasibility and practicality of the execution of a clinically-based therapy as a school-based intervention. Furthermore, this study contributes greatly as a baseline evidence for future research in school-based intervention for Malaysian adolescents.

The national school uniform remained a requirement for all primary and secondary school students in Malaysia since its first introduction by the British missionaries in the nineteenth century. Although it is commonly thought that wearing uniforms improve cohesion among students, little research has been done to investigate the perception of national school uniforms and perceived cohesion among Malaysian students. The aim of the current study is to explore the experiences of former students, teachers and school counselors in relation to Malaysia's national school uniform policy, their influence on student life, and their relationship to school and national cohesion. Three studies were conducted. In Study 1, Malaysian secondary school graduates (N = 192) completed a self-report questionnaire with close and open-ended questions. In Study 2 and study 3, secondary school teachers (N = 10) and school counselors (N = 6) participated in semi-structured interviews, respectively. Although students felt the uniforms were unattractive, they had neutral to somewhat positive feelings about them overall. They did not report greater school cohesion or national identity related to uniforms but did report that uniforms lessened the importance of socioeconomic and other differences. Teachers and counselors reported similar views; they did not perceive much influence on national or school identity but did see advantages in terms of discipline and the lessening of student inequality. Generally, teachers and counselors were in favor of school uniforms but some suggested that uniform designs could be more culturally inclusive, particularly in regard to Muslim and non-Muslim students. Limitations of using non-representative sampling and future direction for Malaysian school uniforms were discussed. This study highlights the important characteristics that should be taken into consideration by educators and policymakers for future improvement of the national school uniform policy in Malaysia.

This article looks at cultural models in the light of human development, and neurobiological findings in motivation, learning, and cognition. It is argued that at the individual level, the acquisition of cultural models relies on several innate, neurobiologically based motivational, learning, and cognitive systems. These are: (a) a primary motivation to form social bonds which is driven by affect; (b) highly specialized social learning circuits, involving, but not limited to, mirror neuron systems, that facilitate the encoding of social information through implicit, embodied, imitational learning processes; and (c) the formation of culturally based templates for behavior and cognition centered around structures, collectively known as the "default mode network," which is essential to self-understanding, autobiographical memory, social cognition, prospection, and theory-of-mind. Cultural models, it is argued, are acquired through innate motivational processes that tie the individual emotionally to a secure base of familiar people and customs. This instinctual desire for proximity to others facilitates the efficient, largely implicit, patterning of knowledge and expectations. Shared knowledge and expectations, in turn, create a common, mostly implicit or unconscious, experience of subjectivity within groups. This allows each individual to automatically and effortlessly interact with similarly enculturated others.

This study investigates the effectiveness of the school-based Shine Through Any Roadblocks (STAR) CBT intervention, by a screening conducted on 634 students from eight secondary schools in Malaysia. Participants ( n = 85) who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were assigned randomly to either the intervention group ( n = 42) or the assessment-only waitlist control group ( n = 43). The intervention consisted of eight group-based sessions over a period of 2 months. Sessions were 60-min each and conducted according to the STAR module. Outcome measures (depressive symptoms and automatic negative thoughts) were administered at five intervals: baseline/pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, 1-month after intervention, and 3-months after intervention. Results showed significant and lasting lower levels of depressive symptoms and automatic negative thoughts in the intervention group, indicating that the STAR intervention could be an effective means of reducing depressive symptomatology among adolescents. Clinical implications for the Malaysian secondary school context are further discussed.

This study examined the role of social support in managing worry among a sample of Malaysian adults. An online questionnaire was completed by 136 participants (age M = 34, SD = 7.65; 71% female, 29% male). Each wrote open-ended, essay-type descriptions of their experiences with social support in relation to worry, as well as completing measures of pathological worry (Penn State Worry Questionnaire), normal worry (Worry Domains Questionnaire), and perceived social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support). Results indicated that young adults experienced a higher degree of normal worry compared to older adults, but pathological worry was not significantly different between the two groups. No significant differences in worry were found in relation to gender, ethnicity or marital status. Perceived social support was negatively related to levels of both normal and pathological worry. Qualitative analyses pointed towards four important roles for social support: providing a sense of belonging and security, providing emotional relief or catharsis, helping to reappraise situations, and facilitating problem-solving and decision-making. The role of social support as a secure base that facilitates emotion management and helps to ground thinking is discussed.

Depressive symptoms commonly begin in late childhood and early adolescence and, left untreated, can increase in frequency and severity and last through adulthood. Recent estimates of depression rates among Malaysian adolescents have been as high as 24%, suggesting a need for effective intervention measures. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a widely accepted and empirically validated psychological intervention for depression. This project took an existing CBT programme targeting adolescent depressive symptoms and adapted it for use with Malaysian high school students. The resulting eight session school-based "STAR" CBT module was assessed through a pilot study involving 20 Malaysian secondary students (10 intervention and 10 control) who reported clinical levels of depressive symptoms on a screening survey. Results showed lower levels of depressive symptoms, post-intervention and 1-month post-intervention, in intervention but not control groups. Similar results were also found for frequency of automatic negative thoughts. These results indicate that the Malay-language 'STAR' CBT protocol could be an effective means of reducing depressive symptoms among Malaysian high school students in school settings.

This article explores subjective experiences related to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) through a qualitative analysis of interviews with 7 Malaysian university students who had recently engaged in NSSI. Participants discussed their feelings, motivations, and experiences related to self-injury in one-on-one, semi-structured interviews. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to identify shared themes across participants' accounts of their involvement with non-suicidal self-injury. Four major themes were identified: (a) Emotion dysregulation, (b) NSSI as emotion regulation strategy, (c) Negative self-perceptions, and (d) Struggling with the adverse consequences of self-injury. Implications of these findings for the support and treatment of those engaging in non-suicidal self-injury are discussed.

Increasingly, online counseling is considered to be a cost-effective and highly accessible method of providing basic counseling and mental health services. To examine the potential of online delivery as a way of increasing overall usage of services, this study looked at students' attitudes toward and likelihood of using both online and/or face-to-face counseling. A survey was conducted with 409 students from six universities in Malaysia participating. Approximately 35% of participants reported that they would be likely to utilize online counseling services but would be unlikely to participate in face-to-face counseling. Based on these results, it is suggested that offering online counseling, in addition to face-to-face services, could be an effective way for many university counseling centers to increase the utilization of their services and thus better serve their communities.

A brief survey asked Malaysians if they had searched for information about illegal drugs and their thoughts about the information available. Two hundred and eighty participants from four states: Selangor, Penang, Malacca, and Johor filled out a paper-and-pencil survey including both multiple choice and open-ended written questions. Quantitative analyses of closed-ended, and thematic analyses of open-ended data indicated the following: Half of participants had, at some point, actively searched for information about drug use; 28% reported searching at least once per month. Participants generally (79%) preferred to obtain information online, but 62% also reported sharing and obtaining information about drugs in face-to-face interactions with friends and others. Concerns regarding the reliability of information, such as the presence of conflicting or contradictory messages from multiple sources, was a common theme in open ended responses. Of those who searched for information, about 70% reported desiring more detailed information about different drugs, in particular about their various side effects and risks. It is suggested that drug information campaigns, particularly those aimed at university students, might better focus on providing accurate, detailed information about the risks and other issues involved in various types of drug use, rather than one-size-fits-all messages. Given the varied and confusing nature of information already available, overly simplistic anti-drug messages may be ineffective, if not counterproductive.

The 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey estimated that over 29% of the adult population of Malaysia suffers from mental distress, a nearly 3-fold increase from the 10.7% estimated by the NHMS in 1996 pointing to the potential beginnings of a public health crisis. This study aimed to better understand this trend by assessing depressive symptoms and their correlates in a cross-section of Malaysians. Specifically, it assesses stress, perceived locus of control, and various socio-demographic variables as possible predictors of depressive symptoms in the Malaysian context. A total of 728 adults from three Malaysian states (Selangor, Penang, Terengganu) completed Beck's depression inventory as well as several other measures: 10% of respondents reported experiencing severe levels of depressive symptoms, 11% reported moderate and 15% reported mild depressive symptoms indicating that Malaysians are experiencing high levels of emotional distress. When controlling for the influence of other variables, depressive symptoms were predictably related to higher levels of stress and lower levels of internal locus of control. Ethnic Chinese Malaysians, housewives and those engaged in professional-type occupations reported less depressive symptoms. Business owners reported more depressive symptoms. Further research should look more into Malaysians' subjective experience of stress and depression as well as explore environmental factors that may be contributing to mental health issues. It is argued that future policies can be designed to better balance individual mental health needs with economic growth.

BOOK REVIEW article Front. Psychol., 26 April 2017Sec. Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Volume 8 - 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00641

BOOK REVIEW article Front. Psychol., 13 December 2017Sec. Cognition Volume 8 - 2017 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02211

Obesity and rates of non-communicable diseases linked to physical inactivity have increased dramatically in Malaysia over the past 20 years. Malaysia has also been identified as one of the least physically active countries in the world with over 60% of adults being essentially sedentary. This study examines the relationship of socio-demographic factors to physical activity among 770 adults from 3 Malaysian states. Physical activity levels were significantly related to ethnicity, gender, age, occupation and educational level. Controlling for inter-relationships among these variables; age, gender, Chinese ethnicity and education level were found to have unique effects on total physical activity, as well as moderate and vigorous exercise. As would be expected, younger people were more physically active, engaging more in both moderate and vigorous types of exercise and males were generally more active than females. Contrary to findings from many developed countries, however, more educated Malaysians were less likely to engage in all types of physical activity. Ethnic Chinese participants, and to a lesser degree Indians also consistently reported lower levels of activity. Possible intervention strategies are discussed that specifically target ethnic and cultural norms related to physical activity. Future research programs exploring barriers to participation and perceptions of physical activity, as well as programs to encourage active life styles among youths are also suggested.

This study examined reasons for substance abuse and evaluated the effectiveness of substance treatment programs in Malaysia through interviews with rehab patients and staff. Substance rehab patients (aged 18-69 years; n = 30) and staff (ages 30-72 years; n = 10) participated in semi-structured interviews covering a range of topics, including family and peer relationships, substance use and treatment history, factors for substance use and relapse, motivation for entering treatment, work experience, job satisfaction, treatment evaluation, and patient satisfaction. Most patients did not demonstrate the substance progression trend and had normal family relationships. Most patients reported having peers from normal family backgrounds as well. Various environmental and personal factors was cited as contributing to substance abuse and relapse. There was no significant difference between patient and staff program evaluation scores although the mean score for patients was lower. A holistic treatment approach with a combination of cognitive behavioral, medical, social, and spiritual components was favored by patients. Suggestions for improving existing programs include better tailoring treatment to individual needs, and providing more post-treatment group support.

This study investigates beliefs about a good life among Malays, Malaysian Chinese and Mainland Chinese university students as a follow up to earlier findings. Three hundred and sixteen participants – 95 M ainland C hinese, 123 M alaysian C hinese and 98 Malay were asked to evaluate 30 descriptors of a good or worthwhile life that are commonly cited across cultural groups. Results show significant between‐group differences for seven of the 30 criteria. Consistent with earlier findings, differences among Asian groups emerged along a theoretical dimension related to practical concerns on one side as compared to moral and spiritual concerns on the other. In this study, consistent with previous findings, M ainland C hinese tended to prefer more practical criteria, while Malays were similar to S outh A sian groups in their preference for more spiritual criteria. M alaysian C hinese participants’ preferences, in general, fell between those of M ainland C hinese and M alays. Also consistent with previous findings, all three groups in this study rated close interpersonal relationships as central to determining whether life is worthwhile.

OPINION article Front. Psychol., 27 February 2015Sec. Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Volume 6 - 2015 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00218

In recent years, there have been increasing accounts of illegal substance abuse among university students and professional groups in Malaysia. This study looks at university students' perceptions about this phenomenon. Students from Malaysian universities were asked for their impressions about drug availability and abuse, as well as factors contributing to drug abuse and relapse. The questionnaire also inquired into their knowledge and views regarding government versus private rehabilitation centers, as well as their exposure to, and views about, school-based drug-prevention education. Participants were 460 university students from five Malaysian states: Penang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Sabah, and Sarawak. Results showed gender differences in perceptions of relapse prevention strategies, as well as factors leading to drug abuse and relapse. Students also believed that drug education would be more effective if initiated between the ages of 11 and 12 years, which is slightly older than the common age of first exposure, and provided suggestions for improving existing programs. Implications of student perceptions for the improvement of current interventions and educational programs are discussed.

Are cultural visions of a good life reflected in how people narrate the personal past? Do they tend to emphasize experiences that correspond to their cultural commitments about what is important and worthwhile in the life they are hoping to live? To examine this possibility, Chinese and South Asian international students at a Canadian university were compared on the content of their narrative accounts of their post-arrival experiences. Predictions about how these groups differ in the prevalence of various topical categories were made on the basis of previous research on cultural conceptions of a good life. A majority of the predictions were confirmed, supporting the general claim that Chinese tend more toward practical and prudential concerns, and less toward spiritual and beneficent concerns, than do South Asians.