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Feeling frustrated and sorrowful? Why should you feel the opposite?

The Effects of Patience and Optimism on UA&P Students' Holistic Development

Mary Elizabeth M. Amparo, Jershie A. Balgos, Juan Miguel P. Fegalan,

Janiel L. Laceste, Zoe Yzabelle P. Magat

Junior College Program, University of Asia and the Pacific

COM013: Research Writing

Mr. Victor A. Primo

October 1, 2021
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Feeling frustrated and sorrowful? Why should you feel the opposite?

The Effects of Patience and Optimism on UA&P Students’ Holistic Development

The youth today often overlook the value of patience and optimism. For instance, A study

states that 70% of Generation Z claim that depression and anxiety are major problems among

each other (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2021). Furthermore, a study conducted by Martex

resulted in Generation Z surpassing Millennials for having the shortest attention spans-- growing

impatient and 60% more likely to hang up if the phone was not answered within 45 seconds

(Marchex Inc, 2016). Despite not being commonly prioritized values, we believe that patience

and optimism have effects on the academic, social, and personal lives of UA&P students.

We decided to pursue this research on the impacts of patience and optimism on the three

aspects of UA&P students’ lives to provide valuable insights and motivate the students to

practice these values in their lives. We plan to execute this research by accomplishing three

research goals: categorize, compare, and correlate. To start, we will categorize holistic

developments in the student’s lives into academic, social, or personal development. This includes

defining both these three terms and the values of patience and optimism. Once established, we

will then compare the data gathered from the survey, interviews, and participatory data. More

specifically, we will determine whether the three of them show positive results in any of the three

aspects whenever the student practices patience and optimism. To finish, we will analyze and

confirm the correlation between the two values and the student’s holistic development.

We are confident that the research’s results will be beneficial to UA&P students, future

researchers, family dynamics, and the Filipino community at large. UA&P students are the most

prominent beneficiaries of this research since they are the basis of our topic. Moreover, the

university can require the teaching of these values to guidance counselors and have them conduct
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value webinars for the students. Through this research, the students would be able to observe

how practicing patience and optimism would help them improve in their academic, social, and

personal development. This study can also give more knowledge to parents on approaching or

supporting their children about their adversities within the three aspects. Additionally, the two

values can help their children in their holistic development. Furthermore, as students learn the

value of practicing patience and optimism, the community will gain future leaders who will

practice them. Lastly, this research can serve as a reference to future researchers who wish to

develop this field of value theory in the Philippines.

Review of Related Literature

Establishing the research topic’s background, stating the research goals, and detailing its

significance are the first steps in the research process. Now, the next step is to find studies and

articles that are relevant to the research. These will provide us with supporting details for the

research; below are our reviews on the related literature and how they connect to the research.

The five journals and articles will serve as the related literature as they all contribute to

the research topic at hand. The results in each of these studies agree and support each other in the

assertion that the two values have positive impacts on students’ holistic development. All five

articles exist within an academic context, but the first three journals define and explain the terms

of the research. They also provide general data that supports the connection between the values

of patience and optimism to the three aspects of student life. The first article entitled “What is

Social, Emotional, and Academic Development?” by The Aspen Institute explains the context of

the three facets of holistic development. Furthermore, the article presented a fact sheet that

shows that the integration of social, emotional, and academic skills and development leads to a

better chance of thriving in school, career, and life. An example of this is that supporting
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students’ social and emotional development produces an 11-percentage point gain in grades and

test scores (The Aspen Institute, n.d.) The next two articles build on the process of holistic

development by the practice of values development. The second article entitled “A Qualitative

Study on Patience in Academic Life” was published by author Bilgen Kiral to define the term

“patience” in the academic field. It states that Ph.D. students perceive patience as a value they

must observe in most of their requirements such as writing assessments, data collection for

thesis, and collaborative work with colleagues (Kiral, 2019, pp. 250–283). The third journal

article entitled “Hope and optimism as predictors of academic performance and subjective

well-being in college students” by Kevin Rand et al. (2020) explains why optimistic students had

better academic performance and future professional success. Moreover, citizens have also

improved their well-being because they are healthier and more productive from optimism (Rand

et al., 2020). Therefore, the study has evidence that optimism among university students and

adult citizens provides them with overall life satisfaction.

These final two articles concretely present data about the positive relationship between

the two values and the three facets of holistic development. According to the research article,

“Optimism and Its Impact on Mental and Physical Well-Being” by Conversano, et al. (2010),

optimists tend to cope well, thus making them more adaptive to stressful situations. Additionally,

this research states that optimism reduces the risk of suffering from depressive symptoms and is

a factor involved in the implementation of healthy practices (Conversano, et al., 2010). Similarly,

as affirmed in the article entitled “Teaching Patience in Classrooms for Improved Student

Decision-making and Behavior in Turkey” by Sule Alan and Seda Etrac, students who were

taught in the patience program were ten percent less likely to receive low behavior grades

compared to students who exhibited impatient behavior and received lower behavior grades.
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Furthermore, the article states that teaching patience to students is a cost-effective way to

improve their cognitive skills (Alan & Ertac, 2017).

In summary, the five articles all build into our assertion by showing how patience and

optimism helped people achieve academic success, experience a healthy physical and mental

state, and improve their quality of life. Additionally, the above articles also build on each other,

further proving a correlation of the values of patience and optimism in the academic, social, and

personal lives of students. We believe we can strengthen the assertion of this research because

the data we have gathered thus far supports this.

Research Problem

In line with our research goals and literature review, we present our research problem that

includes our set of research questions, hypothesis, and main research question. We are convinced

it would serve as a guide to stay on track with our research goals.

Main Research Question:

Why are patience and optimism important in the lives of UA&P students?

Sub Research Questions:

1. How does one define patience and optimism as well as the three facets of

academic, social, and personal life?

2. How do patience and optimism affect a UA&P student’s life?

3. How often should UA&P students practice patience and optimism?

Hypothesis:

UA&P students who practice patience and optimism have successful academic, social, and

personal lives.
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Research Design and Methodology

We chose correlation as our research design as it will build the positive relationship

between patience and optimism and the academic, social, and personal lives of UA&P students.

Although correlational research usually focuses on the events of the past, we will also be having

a participatory source to gather contemporary data for further understanding of the study. The

reason for this is that two variables from correlational research are never constant, and instead

undergo change. Two variables can have a positive relationship in the past, only to have a

negative one in the future.

Our research will utilize both primary and secondary sources for data. The primary

sources we will use consist of interrogation, survey, and participation data. First, we will

interview three UA&P students with varying degrees of experience to gather diverse information

and insights about how their relationship with patience and optimism affected their academics,

social life, and personal development. To acquire this data, we will ask interview questions such

as, “Do you think that practicing patience and optimism are important, and do they bring success

to your academic, social, and personal life?”. Next, we will send out a survey to other UA&P

students. Compared to the interviews, this will be a less detailed but more extensive method of

data collection. The surveys will provide a consensus if UA&P students practice the two values

and how the two values affect the three aspects. This survey would include questions like, “If

you DO NOT practice patience or optimism or DON'T PRIORITIZE them as much as your other

values, do you plan on practicing patience and optimism in the future? Why or why not?”. This

way, we can determine whether students regard these values with the same importance as we do.

Lastly, we will have participation data where one of our group members will reflect on his daily
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life and how practicing patience and optimism affected it. As for the secondary sources, we will

make use of the internet and journal articles.

We will be presenting the interviews, surveys, and participatory data we collected

through a qualitative approach. However, we will also be using a quantitative approach to

measure the percentages from the surveys we conducted. As for the types of measurements, we

will be using the interval level of the Likert scale (rating them into never, rarely, sometimes,

often, always) since the surveys base on the preference or attitudes of the respondents that

practice patience and optimism. To further support the foundation of the method, we will also

analyze secondary data — although less focused on compared to the primary data.

Discussion of Findings

To identify a positive relationship between the values of patience and optimism and how

they bring success to the academic, social, and personal lives of UA&P students, we decided to

use correlation as our research design. To accomplish this, we gathered both primary and

secondary data. Below are the findings and reviews of the primary data we collected. We will

also compare these results to the ideas we had analyzed from the secondary data.

For our first primary data, we interviewed one student from 26YP (Interviewee A), an

alum (Interviewee B), and a 4th-year college student (Interviewee C). The student from 26YP

and the alum claim to be patient and optimistic, while the 4th-year college student does not

practice these values. A member was assigned for each interviewee as we asked them questions

about their experiences and thoughts on how patience or optimism affect the various aspects of

their lives and the outcome of their practice of the two values (please refer to Annex 1 for the

actual questions asked). The interviewees define patience as being able to wait and tolerate

demanding situations, while optimism is to have faith in positive outcomes. They also believe
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practicing patience and optimism has a positive impact on their academics, social life, and

personal growth. However, while both Interviewees A and B consider themselves to be patient

and optimistic, Interviewee C considers themselves to be the opposite (see fig.1).

All of them believe that practicing patience and optimism are important for students to

achieve success in their academic, social, and personal life. According to Interviewee A, not

practicing these values hinders students from becoming successful due to having a negative

outlook; and although Interviewee C does not prioritize these values, they still believe patience

and optimism play a significant role in college — where it could get more challenging for

students. Additionally, Interviewee B believes that when a student practices these values in one

aspect, they could also apply them to the other aspects. Both Interviewees A and C share a

similar understanding in that they view these three aspects correlated with each other.

Moreover, they all claim that patience and optimism affected their academic, social, and

personal life. Interviewee B said not practicing these values will cause stress that might affect

both mental and physical health. They also mention that if even practicing optimism and patience

led to unwanted results, resiliency must be employed.

The three interviewees all had instances wherein practicing patience and optimism

affected the three aspects (see fig. 2). For example, Interviewee A overcame the burden of being

grouped with an inactive group member by being patient with them. Meanwhile, Interviewee C

performed better on an exam after shifting their mindset into a more positive one by setting a

higher goal and patiently studying. On the other hand, Interviewee B said that while being

patient and optimistic can be helpful in day-to-day life and the three aspects, it will not always

guarantee a positive outcome. However, keeping a positive mindset is key to moving forward.
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As a UA&P student who experienced both traditional and online classes, we asked an

additional question to Interviewee C. They said that online classes required both teachers and

students to be more patient; however, this transition did not require anyone to change their

practices on optimism.

Figure 1

Amount of interviewees who are patient and optimistic

Figure 2

Experiences the interviewees had with practicing patience and/or optimism, and whether the

outcome was positive or negative.

Aside from the interviews, our second primary data were surveys conducted on the

UA&P student body, of which there were sixty-three respondents (please refer to Annex 2 for the

actual survey form that we used). The respondents ranged from 1st year 6YP to UA&P alumni,

with the majority coming from the 26YP batch. We first asked them how they would define

patience and optimism. And while there were variations to their definitions, they mutually agree

upon patience as the ability to wait and tolerate demanding situations, while optimism is to have

faith in positive outcomes.

We also asked whether they practiced patience and optimism and how often they

observed the values in their academic, social, and/or personal lives. Approximately all the

respondents said that they practice patience in their academic, social, and personal life with

varying degrees of frequency. For optimism, 1% of the respondents answered that they never

practice optimism, while a joint percentage of 98.4% of the respondents practiced optimism in

varying degrees of frequency (see fig. 3). Additionally, we asked the respondents whether they

believe that the practice of the two values had any significant effect on their development in any

of the three aspects (academic, social, personal), to which 95.2% answered yes (see fig. 4). When

asked whether they believe the practice of the two values had any contribution to a person’s

success, 11.8% disagreed, while 88.3% of the respondents agreed (see fig. 5). Lastly, an

overwhelming majority of the respondents say that they would practice or continue to practice

patience and optimism in the future. As quoted from one of the respondents, “Both patience and

optimism give beneficial effects to one's mental health. It can serve as a guide for a successful

and fruitful life. Thus, it is indispensable for these two values to be constantly practiced.”
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Figure 3

Frequency of which the respondents practice/prioritize patience and optimism

Figure 4

Amount of respondents who agree whether patience and optimism affect their academic, social,

and personal development.

Figure 5

Summary of respondents’ views on whether the two values impact academic/social/personal

success

Our final primary data is our fellow researcher Juan Miguel Fegalan (JM) as a direct

participant in this research project. We asked him what the impact of practicing patience and

optimism on his academic, social, and personal life was for one week. He wrote detailed

reflections on his journal following a set of guide questions (please refer to Annex 3 for the task

instructions). Based on the self-monitoring of his behavior, we have found that both the practice

of patience and optimism helped him improve on the three aspects of holistic development. To

summarize the details of his experience during the last week, patience helped him learn to trust

in his group mates (academic), respect the time of his friends and family (social), and in

reassuring himself of self-improvement in time management (personal). JM discovered that

being patient or impatient does not only account for attention span or a level of focus towards a

long task, but it instead accounts for being mindful of time. There were a few times in the past

week when JM was impatient, and an example of this is where he answered a quiz without

reviewing that much and got a score that was lower than his expectations. The value of optimism
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had the same role towards him not only in the aspect of academic success but also in gaining a

positive mindset towards the situation of his friends amid the pandemic. Lastly, optimism helped

JM himself to persevere through the stressful week he had described to us. There were moments

where he started to get pessimistic (e.g., when the officers at one of his organizations kept

making comments about his work), but he knew that looking at the bright side of life can help

him to confront negativity head-on. He also mentions how appreciating the small things, like the

words of affirmation from his friends and family, can help him in being optimistic.

Our findings from the three primary data show the positive correlation between patience

and optimism and academic, social, and personal life. We can find this same idea in our

secondary data. Most responses from both our conducted interviews and surveys agree with the

assertions from our first secondary source as it talks about how patience and optimism guide

students to perform better in their studies, workplace, and life (The Aspen Institute, n.d.). All

interviewees and 95.2% of the respondents believe that the two values are important and impact

development in the three aspects. Specifically speaking, they all see these values as something

important in academics. This idea aligns with the article by Bilgen Kiral (2019), which states that

students view patience as a value that must be practiced in various academic work. Similarly, we

find this same idea on the first page of the article by Kevin Rand et al. (2020), which says that

optimism helps in academics since it makes students and adults healthier and more productive.

This is also clear in the participatory data, where we can see how patience and optimism helped

him in JM’s academics. We can see that this is in line with the findings of the article by Sule

Alan and Seda Etrac (2016), which states that students taught to practice patience exhibit

improved academic and social behavior. Additionally, one interviewee said that practicing these

values may affect both mental and physical health. We can see similar findings in the
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introduction of the article by Ciro Conversano et al. (2010), where it states that there is a positive

correlation between optimism and physical as well as mental wellbeing.

Conclusions and Recommendations

“Why are patience and optimism important in the lives of UA&P students?” This is the

main question we used to guide us through the process of our research. To find answers to the

question we started, we used three research goals: explanation, comparison, and correlation. In

utilizing these goals, we hoped to support our thesis statement being “UA&P students who

practice patience and optimism have successful academic, social, and personal lives.” And like

what was said earlier, we used the correlation type of research design for this research.

Considering both our primary and secondary data, we have found the values of patience

and optimism are indeed impactful in students’ lives whether in academics, social, or personal

life. In all three methods we used to gather our primary data, the consensus of the participants is

that their practice of patience and optimism had an influence on their development and success in

all three aspects. This would mean that the two values, when practiced regularly, reflect well on

students’ academic, social, and personal progress. An example of this is when they practiced

patience and optimism to persevere through their school workload. As quoted from the

participant, “I was proud of myself for being able to persevere through what we considered ‘hell

week’, and I think my patience and optimism contributed a lot to it.” Another example provided

by Interviewee A is the benefit of being able to handle a freeloader in a group project by

exercising patience with them. Lastly, our participatory data shows that the practice of patience

helped him self-improve in time management. Thus, while being patient and optimistic are not as

distinct nor observable a characteristic trait in Generation Z, we have found in this research that

the current generation uses these values in ways that matter.

Based on what this research proves, we recommend that teachers or academic institutions

instill patience and optimism in their students by making the teaching of these values mandatory

through means of webinars or other activities. For students who wish to improve their academics,

social life, and personal growth, we suggest practicing these two values to help them achieve

their goals. Furthermore, we recommend that parents take information from this research to

figure out ways to support their children regarding the three aspects. With this, they can promote

holistic development that will mold their children into future leaders and/or well-adapted

members of society.

In addition, we recommend that future researchers who will replicate or expand on this

topic gather more primary data (interview, survey, and participatory data), explore other values

besides patience and optimism, and address the limitations of this research to develop its

findings. This research was done during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in

some limitations like a shorter timeframe for the research writing and not being able to gather

primary data face-to-face. When face-to-face classes resume, we first recommend future

researchers to interview and survey more students; likewise, they could also invite more students

to be subjects of participatory data as well. It will be easier to interact with the student body both

physically and digitally as it will open even more opinions and perspectives as primary data for

the research topic. Secondly, future researchers can correlate the practice of other values to the

success and development of academic, social, and personal life. They can use this research paper

as a framework to talk about other values like confidence and honesty instead of patience and

optimism. Lastly, future researchers can author a paper in response to ours by addressing the

limitations that we had during the process.

References

Alan, S. A., & Ertac, S. E. (2016). Teaching patience in classrooms for improved student

decision-making and behavior in turkey. J-Pal Abdul Lateef Poverty Action Lab.

[Link]

dent-decision-making-and-behavior-turkeys

Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2021, May 22). Generation z and mental health. The Annie E.

Casey Foundation. [Link]

The Aspen Institute. (n.d.). What is social, emotional, and academic development? Aspen

Institute. Retrieved September 23, 2021, from

[Link]

cademic-development/social-emotional-academic-development/

Conversano, C., Rotondo, A., Lensi, E., Della Vista, O., Arpone, F., & Reda, M. A. (2010).

Optimism and its impact on mental and physical well-being. Clinical Practice &

Epidemiology in Mental Health, 6, 25–29.

[Link]

Kiral, B. (2019). A qualitative study on patience in academic life. Journal of Computer and

Education Research, 7(14), 250–283. [Link]

Marchex Inc. (2016, December 15). Generation z consumers most impatient, quickest-to-curse,

yet most likely to call businesses of any demographic, Marchex study finds. Business

Wire.

[Link]

mpatient-Quickest-to-Curse-Call-Businesses-of%C2%A0Any
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Rand, K. L., Shanahan, M. L., Fischer, I. C., & Fortney, S. K. (2020). Hope and optimism as

predictors of academic performance and subjective well-being in college students.

Learning and Individual Differences, 81, 101906.

[Link]
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Appendix A

Interview Questions

1. How would you rate/describe your academic performance in UA&P?

2. How would you describe your social life?

3. How would you describe your personal growth these past few years?

4. How would you define patience and optimism?

5. Would you consider yourself a patient and/or optimistic person? Do you prioritize these

one or two values more than other values you have (make them mention these other

values)? How often do you practice the two values?

6. How did/does practicing patience and/or optimism impact your academics, social life,

and personal growth?

7. Do you think that practicing patience and optimism are important and do they bring

success to your academic, social, and personal life? How so?

8. Do you believe that if you practice patience and/or optimism in one of the three aspects

(Personal, Social, Academic), then it would also affect the other two aspects? How so?

9. Tell me about a time when you practiced patience and/or optimism and how it affected

the situation afterward. Was the outcome positive or negative?

Appendix B

Survey Questions

1. How satisfied are you with your current academic performance/social life/personal

progress?

2. How would you define patience and optimism?

3. How often do you practice/prioritize patience in your academic, social, and personal life?

4. How often do you practice/prioritize optimism in your academic, social, and personal

life?

5. Do you think the practice of patience and optimism have any significant effect on your

development in any three aspects (academic, social, personal)?

6. Do you think patience and optimism are important and bring success in your life?

7. Do you believe that if you practice patience and/or optimism in one of the three aspects

(Personal, Social, Academic), then it would also affect the other two aspects?

8. Cite an example of when you practiced patience/optimism and how it affected you

(academically/ socially/ personally).

9. If you DO NOT practice patience or optimism or DON'T PRIORITIZE them as much as

your other values, do you still think patience and optimism contribute to a person's

academic/social/personal success?

10. If you DO NOT practice patience or optimism or DON'T PRIORITIZE them as much as

your other values, do you plan on practicing patience and optimism in the future? Why or

why not?
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Appendix C

Instructions for Participation Data

1. Reflect and journal your experience on the impact of patience and optimism on your

holistic development for one week.

2. For each aspect of holistic development, detail one positive impact in practicing patience

and optimism as well as one negative impact of not practicing patience and optimism.

3. Narrate and explain if there are any circumstances where if the practice of patience and

optimism affects one aspect (e.g., academic), then it also affects one or both other aspects

(e.g., social and personal).