Self-Esteem, Tawakal, and Social Support: Its Effect on Student Happiness

This study aims to examine the effect of self-esteem, tawakal and social support on university student happiness. The population were students of the Psychology Faculty of UIN Jakarta who lived in a boarding house totalling 177 people. The sample is collected using a non-probability sampling technique, particularly purposive sampling. The research instrument is a modified measuring instrument consisting of a happiness scale, a self-esteem scale, a tawakal scale, and a social support scale. The validity of these instruments tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and data analysis using multiple regression techniques. Based on the results of this study, self-esteem, tawakal, and social support notably influence student happiness by 57.7%. Furthermore, hypothesis testing shows four variables have a positive and crucial impact on student happiness, namely self-competence, self-liking, tawakal and peer support. On the other hand, family support and significant others support do not affect student happiness.


Introduction
Only a few research on happiness chooses adolescents and children as its subject (Chaplin, Bastos, & Lowrey, 2010). Student happiness is important to discuss because they are in the adolescent phase, which they are most vulnerable to unhappiness with the many problems they may face.
The later stage of adolescent developmental age is where social awareness and pressure is higher so that adolescents are required to be independent and responsible. Adjustments to various aspects of life are also needed, one of which is in entering higher education, where at this education level, besides material readiness, mental readiness is also very much needed. As individuals who want the best education for themselves, it is not uncommon for adolescents to separate from their families to live in a new environment, such as living in a boarding house or dormitory. Students who live in boarding houses will experience a transition period before entering an independent life, both socially and emotionally. According to Gall (2000), the world of lectures provides a lot of exposure and opportunities for them to develop their potential; on the other hand, entering the world of college can be a source of tension and stress.
In the preliminary research, interviews conducted with 12 UIN students who lived in a boarding house during the academic calendar until the current pandemic was taking place. All admitted that they had felt stressed and lonely while living in the boarding house. Some of the causes include tiredness in attending lectures with plenty tasks, lack of material-instrumental, condition of the boarding house, friend and lover problems; low self-confidence to initiate relations outside of study time; and the difficulty of getting access and food during the pandemic. Another internal factor that can affect happiness is tawakal. Hamka (2015) described that one of the methods to achieve happiness is by empowering the mind. The mind, he said, determines the quality of happiness that humans are able to attain as it can distinguish the good and the bad and becomes an appraiser about the essence of a subject. One aspect of happiness, as claimed by Hamka (2015), is tawakal. Mujib (2019) defined tawakal as representing or surrendering all affairs to Allah SWT., as a Substance capable of completing all matters, after people no longer have the power and ability to solve them. With trust, individuals strive to achieve goals by working hard and using wasilah that has been ordered to them and resolves that Allah will guide them to their goals, as they surrender to Him and receive his will (Alfian, 2004).
Apart from internal factors, happiness is also influenced by external factors, for instance, social support that includes support from the immediate environment, such as emotional, instrumental, information, appreciation and social networks. Social support is a form of acceptance from others to an individual, resulting in a perception that the individual is loved, cared for, valued, and helped so that a feeling can arise that the individual has meaning for others and is part of their social network (Sarafino, 1998). Social support can directly or indirectly help increase happiness in late adolescence, both in the form of emotional, instrumental, information, appreciation and social networks (Sarafino, 1998), which can come from family, friends or significant others (Zimet, 1988).

Method
Participants in this study amounted to 177 people, were chosen using a purposive sampling technique. They are active students who live in boarding houses, and the questionnaire distributed online using google form.
This study uses four scales, and the first one is the Scale of Happiness that adapted a scale developed by Mardiah (2011) based on the theory of happiness from Seligman (2005;2008). This scale consists of 20 items; measurement of self-esteem using SLC-R (Self-Liking / Self-Competence Scale Revised) developed by Tafrodi

Results
The first step is to look at the coefficient of determination or R-Square (R2). Table 1 shows that the value of R2 is .577, meaning in this study, the variation in the dependent variable influenced by the variation of the independent variable by 57.7%. The last step is examining the regression coefficient to identify which independent variable has a substantial effect on the dependent variable.

Conclusions and Discussion
All independent variables: dimensions of selfesteem (self-competence and self-liking), tawakal, and dimensions of social support (family support, friend support, significant other support) affect the happiness of students living in boarding houses.
From the minor hypothesis test, four variables (selfesteem, self-competence, self-liking, tawakal, and friend support) have a pivotal impact on happiness.
In contrast, two variables found to be insignificant were family and significant other support. All variables contribute 57.7% influence on happiness with the remaining 42.3% influenced by other variables outside of this study.
The test of the proportion of variance discovered that the variables that gave the most significant contribution were self-competence with 33.9%, selfliking with 4.2%, tawakal with 11.1%, and peer support with 7.4%.
The results found that the self-esteem variables, both self-competence and self-liking, show a notable and positive influence on happiness. Selfcompetence with a regression coefficient of 0.344 and a significance of 0.000 (sig <0.05) and 0.144 with a significance of 0.037 (sig <0.05) for selfliking. These results indicate that students who live in boarding houses have confidence in the values placed on them, regarding their abilities, expectations and positive self-meaning, so that the higher the student's self-esteem, the lower the anxiety they face and they are happier.
In line with the research conducted by Farzee (2012), the findings obtained in this study suggest that self-esteem is a predictor that has an extensive and positive impact on happiness. When selfevaluation and the individual's environment ISSN:00333077 www.psychologyandeducation.net 5433 developed confidence, satisfaction, and optimism for the future, the individuals will attain happiness. It is also in conjunction with what Furnham and Chench (2000) stated that self-satisfaction (high self-esteem), more than any other factor, is closely related to happiness.
All independent variables: dimensions of selfesteem (self-competence and self-liking), tawakal, and dimensions of social support (family support, friend support, significant other support) affect the happiness of students living in boarding houses.
From the minor hypothesis test, four variables (selfesteem, self-competence, self-liking, tawakal, and friend support) have a pivotal impact on happiness.
In contrast, two variables found to be insignificant were family and significant other support. All variables contribute 57.7% influence on happiness with the remaining 42.3% influenced by other variables outside of this study.
The test of the proportion of variance discovered that the variables that gave the most significant contribution were self-competence with 33.9%, selfliking with 4.2%, tawakal with 11.1%, and peer support with 7.4%.
The results found that the self-esteem variables, self-competence and self-liking, show a notable and positive influence on happiness. Self-competence with a regression coefficient of 0.344 and a significance of 0.000 (sig <0.05) and 0.144 with a significance of 0.037 (sig <0.05) for self-liking.
These results indicate that students who live in boarding houses have confidence in the values placed on them, regarding their abilities, expectations and positive self-meaning, so that the higher the student's self-esteem, the lower the anxiety they face and they are happier.
In line with the research conducted by Farzee (2012), the findings obtained in this study suggest that self-esteem is a predictor that has an extensive and positive impact on happiness. When selfevaluation and the individual's environment developed confidence, satisfaction, and optimism for the future, the individuals will attain happiness.
It is also in conjunction with what Furnham and Chench (2000) stated that self-satisfaction (high self-esteem), more than any other factor, is closely related to happiness.
The tawakal variable has a notably positive effect on happiness with a regression coefficient of 0.250 with a significance of 0.000 (sig <0.05). That means the higher the tawakal behaviour of students, the greater their happiness. Because individuals feel sufficient when they believe that Allah gives what is best for them, there will be a sense of happiness in knowing that Allah loves His creations. The findings gained in this study are also stand side by side with research conducted by Habibah (2017), which justified that tawakal is a predictor that has a significant effect on psychological well-being. Qardhawi (2015) explained that who put their trust in Allah, will feel calm and peace in their life.
Calmness is a part of happiness that happens after one puts forth a maximum effort, yet does not become arrogant from it as one believes that everything happens with the permission of Allah SWT.
Social support is a predictor variable with three dimensions, i.e. family support, friend support, and significant other support. Social support affects happiness by making individuals perceive and believe that they are loved, cared for and appreciated. One particular dimension from social support; friend support, scored highly with a regression coefficient of 0.281 with a significance of 0.000 (sig <0.05). On the contrary, family and significant other support do not have a consequential effect on happiness.
The friend support variable has a significant effect and produces a positive coefficient on happiness. That means the more support from friends the students get, the higher their happiness will be. The findings connected with research conducted by Farzaee (2012) that support from friends affects happiness. Although in Farzaee's (2012) study, family support is more influential than friend support. In this case, it could be that someone who has high friend support tends to rarely communicate with family because they live in a boarding house or focus more on learning than interact with their families during the study period. Meanwhile, someone who has low peer support may tend to interact with family more often than spending time with friends on campus.
The trifling variable of family and significant other support towards happiness is due to other larger factors such as homesickness may happen in students who live in a boarding house during their studies that they are far from their family and closest people. Homesickness is a feeling of distress caused by the individual being far from their home and area of origin (Thurber & Walton, 2012). In this case, according to Cohen and Wills (1985), the benefits of social support, either directly or indirectly, can help someone cope with stress.
Apart from that, from this study, it is known that happiness is influenced by psychological factors, particularly self-esteem, which contributes more weight to happiness. Furthermore, the spiritual aspect in tawakal is also known to contribute a considerate amount to happiness. And finally, social factors in the form of social support which in many previous studies known to have a significant impact on happiness turned out to have only one vital dimension, specifically friend support, while the other two dimensions in this study do not crucially influence the happiness of students who live in boarding houses. Such a case is interesting because, for most students who live in boarding houses, support from friends is more influential in creating happiness than support from family and significant others. The implication of this research is to strengthen self-esteem and tawakal as individual factors and to strengthen support between students to increase their happiness.