INTRODUCTION

Students mental health is an important consideration that every educational institution should be

trained for and ready to handle. According to World Health Organization (WHO) “mental health is

a state of mental well-being that troubles people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their

abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community” Stronger mental health for

students means they can learn better and be more likely to realize the full potential of their abilities.

Students mental health in school is a crucial part of the education system. Ultimately, students

with positive mental health can build relationships more effectively, make decisions, and work

together. (Paola pedrelli 2015).

Extracurricular activities play a significant role in student’s lives and have the potential to impact

their mental health positively. There activities refer to any non-academic pursuits that students

engage in outside of their regular academic curriculum. There activities can include sports,

volunteering, arts, music, debate, and many more.

Engaging in extracurricular activities has been associated with several benefits for students’

mental health. These activities provide opportunity for social interaction which can help combat

feelings of loneliness and isolation students who participate in structured activities are more likely

to respect diversity, play by rules, and contribute as a member of a team whether it is a sport,

scouting or clubs. (Nikki Wilson, 2009)

Fredricks and Eccles (2006) found that activity participation can be linked to positive academic

outcomes including improved grades, test scores, more school engagement, and increased

educational aspirations. Participating in extracurricular activities can also help students develop

important life skills such as teamwork, leadership, time management and goal setting that

contribute to increased self-esteem and confidence which are positive factors against mental

health issues.
The goal of the present study is to investigate participation in ECAS and determining the potential

benefits and impact of these activities can have in the well-being of G10 students. By examining

the relationships between participation in Extracurricular activities and mental health outcomes,

researchers aim to understand how these activities can contribute among students’ wellness. This

knowledge can then be used to inform educational institutions, policymakers and parents about

the importance of incorporating extracurricular activities into students’ lives to support their mental

health.
METHODS

The respondents of the study were the Grade 10 students of Fatima National High School under

the basic education curriculum (BEC) for the school year 2022-2023. To find out the final

number of respondents in 26 sections of Grade 10 BEC Students of Fatima National High

School, the respondents were chosen through stratified random sampling, by which obtained,

the Grade 10 respondents of both Grade 10 Aquamarine and Grade 10 Opal. The locals of the

study were at the Fatima National High School located at Brgy. Fatima, Uhaw, General Santos

City, Philippines.

The questionnaires are an instrument consisting of two parts. The first part was an adapted

material taken from an original research article about “Extracurricular activities and Mental well-

being of Students”. While the second part of the questionnaire was a validated standardized

questionnaire on anxiety levels, Standardized State Trait Anxiety Inventory Survey (STAI;

Spielberger at al., 1983)

To officially conduct the study, the researchers wrote a letter addressed to the Advisers of the

Grade 10 BEC students of Fatima National High School to test their students respectively. After

the permission was, testing was done. The researcher was coordinate with the Grade 10 BEC

Students adviser or current subject teacher of each class to assist them in conducting the test.

Then, after all the information and instruction were given to the students, they started to answer

the questionnaires.

The target respondent was given ample time to answer the questionnaire wo assure proper and

thorough accomplishment of the said tool before it was finally retrieved. After the retrieval of

questionnaire, the responses were classified tallied and collated in graph analytics. The data

gathered were then analyzed and interpreted using statistical formula to test the hypothesis in
which the results served as the bases for the summary of findings that will lead to the drawing of

conclusions and offering recommendations.

RESULTS

This study determined the impact of extracurricular activities on the Grade 10 student's

mental health in Fatima National High School. 20 respondents were asked and the

researchers obtained the average scores for the analysis and interpretation of data

Figure 1:

Number of students
Sports (1) 5%

Study on library (2) 5%

Socializing with friends (3) 15%

Surf on internet (9) 45%

Listening to music (4) 20%

others 10%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Figure 1: Number of students out of 20 who was examined if their engaging in each

extracurricular activity. Number at the end of each bar indicate the (%) percentage of

students.
RESULTS

Concerning extracurricular activities, students first indicated whether they participated in

each of the 5 extracurricular activities listed (with the option to add additional activities not

on the list by checking others). The list of Activities can be seen in Figure 1. For each

activity in which they participated, students were asked to give subjective ratings of how

much they felt that each activity supported their overall well-being (1=not at all; 5=

extremely) which can be seen in figure 2.

Figure 2:

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
RATING

2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Sports Study on library Socializing with Surf on internet Listening to music
friends
ACTIVITIES

Figure 2: Mean rating out of 5 for how helpful each extracurricular activity was rated to be

for well-being.
Figure 3:

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%
% of STUDENTS

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%
Low Moderate High

Figure 3: Percentage of Grade 10 students (n=20) scoring in each category of the State

Trait Anxiety Inventory- Trait subscale.