Mental Health and Academic Motivation among Day Secondary School Students in IGEMBE Sub-Counties, MERU County-Kenya

Abstract

Day secondary school students exhibit a life of multifaceted experiences. They operate bet ween two worlds that mainly include the formal experiences in school during the day and the home or community environment between the evening and early morning periods. The home and neighbourhood environments may pose challenges to cope with the pressures of such environments. Some students may face moments of aggression at family level and society, poor parental relationships, poverty among other vices that may impact negatively on mental health and consequently on academic motivation. Day school students generally exhibit low self-esteem (Munanu, 2016), that may impact on good mental health and academic performance. The schools lack capacity to assist students in coping mechanism of the daily hassles they experience. According to Chaplin (1970) dictionary of Psychology, Academic achievement is a specific level of attainment of proficiency in academic work as evaluated by a teacher using standardized tests or both academic achievements as an aspect of the total behavior of the students. Academic achievement brings great life implications for instance career placement for better jobs and “perceived” life successes. Academic achievement is a product of many variables like self-esteem, adjustment, achievement motivation, socio-economic status, school environments among others. Motivation is a key factor that drives human behavior and educationists have given great attention on the role of motivation in educational and academic development. Motivation is one of the tools researchers are trying to use as a combatant of negative stress reactions. Motivation is what helps us to survive. Academic motivation helps students to remain on course in academic engagement. Mental health and motivation are well connected and related. Mental health is crucial for one to be motivated. It is important for us to achieve our aims and objectives. Lack of motivation can cause mental disorder like depression. Conversely, mental disorder further stifles motivation. Mental health is critical in academic engagement of students. Studies have shown that motivation is an important factor that improves academic performance of students (Tella, 2007). The present study attempts to investigate the relationship between mental health and academic motivation in day secondary school students. Ryan & Deci, 2000 cited in Cloninger (2004), say that, intrinsic motivation refers to “doing an activity for the inherent satisfaction of the activity itself”. Extrinsic motivation comes from the outside of the individual. Common extrinsic motivations are rewards like money, grades, praise, promotion, coercion and threat of punishment (Bainbridge & Carol, 2010). What is the main type of motivation that propels most students towards academic achievement? Mental health describes a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From positive psychology view point, mental health may include an individual’s ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience (About.com, 2006). Kenya in 1982, adopted mental health as the ninth essential element of its primary care provision, in recognition of how mental issues had significant influence on an individual’s general life.(Mental health Atlas, 2005). How day secondary school students engage in expression of emotions does signify how they can successfully adapt to a range of demands. One’s mental health may be affected by one’s social, cultural, physical and educational factors.