The Impact of Academic Stress and Spiritual Intelligence on Subjective Well-Being in Students During the Pandemic Period

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shift in the learning system from offline to online. Online learning in the long term can affect the subjective well-being of students. Several previous studies have linked students’ subjective well-being with academic stress or spiritual intelligence. Thus far, studies have not examined whether academic stress and spiritual intelligence can simultaneously contribute to students’ subjective well-being. This research intended to determine the contribution of academic stress and spiritual intelligence to students’ subjective well-being. 116 students in one municipality in East Java province completed three measuring instruments, specifically the subjective well-being scale, academic stress scale, and spiritual intelligence scale. Data were tested using multiple linear regression. The findings illustrated that academic stress partially affected subjective well-being (t = 8.567; p <0.05), spiritual intelligence partially affected subjective well-being (t = 3.677; p <0.05), and academic stress and spiritual intelligence in combination affected subjective well-being (F = 44.567; p < 0.05; R2 = 0.386). These results suggested that 38.6% of the variation in subjective well-being in students could be explained by academic stress and spiritual intelligence. Therefore, in order to maintain their subjective well-being during this long pandemic, students are advised to improve their capacity to deal with academic stress and develop their spiritual intelligence. Keywords: subjective well-being, academic stress, spiritual intelligenc