International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE) Vol. 13, No. 3, June 2024, pp. 1293~1300 ISSN: 2252-8822, DOI: 10.11591/ijere.v13i3.27696  1293 Journal homepage: http://ijere.iaescore.com The relationship between leisure activities and mental health disorders among higher education students in Malaysia Lim Lee Ping 1 , Ong Choon Hee 2 , Tan Owee Kowang 1 , Chi-Hua Wu 3 1 Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia 2 Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia 3 Department of Creative Product Design, Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tainan City, Taiwan Article Info ABSTRACT Article history: Received Jun 7, 2023 Revised Sep 1, 2023 Accepted Oct 30, 2023 This study investigates the association between leisure activities (recreation, sports, social contact, artistic, cultural, religious, and rest) and mental health disorders among Malaysian university students. There were 332 respondents enrolled in the public and private universities, polytechnics and other higher academic institutions in Malaysia were surveyed using a quantitative questionnaire. The study performed multiple regression and correlation analyses on the data using the statistical package for social science (SPSS). The findings indicated that six out of seven categories of leisure activities were significantly linked to mental health issues. The six types of leisure time activities were recreation, sports, social interaction, cultural, religious, and rest. Cultural activities have the highest impact on mental health, with the highest beta value. The universities and polytechnics should consider launching several types of leisure activities and tailor specific activities that may reduce mental health issues. Keywords: Higher education students Leisure activities Malaysia Mental health disorders Quantitative research This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA license. Corresponding Author: Ong Choon Hee Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Skudai-81310, Johor, Malaysia Email: ongchoonhee@gmail.com 1. INTRODUCTION A clinically significant change in a person’s cognition, emotional control, or behavior coupled with a deficiency in fundamental functioning is the hallmark of a mental health disorder [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that 970 million people worldwide were living with mental health disorders in 2019, dramatically increasing by 28% during the COVID-19 pandemic to 2,141 million people in 2020 [1]. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown measures have partially or fully closed schools and universities for more than 90% of the world’s student population across 186 countries and territories, as reported by UNESCO [2]. Previous studies have found that adolescents and university students suffered from mental health issues like stress, anxiety, depression, and sleeping disorders during the lockdown in developing countries [3], [4]. According to the Malaysia’s Ministry of Health, Malaysia’s latest epidemiological statistics, released in 2015, the prevalence of mental health issues among Malaysian individuals aged 16 and older is also increasing, going from 11.2% in 2006 to 29.2% in 2015, nearly tripling [5]. Additionally, the study revealed that women, young adults, and adults from low-income households are at risk of mental health problems. Another published report [6] showed that young people tend to suffer more from mental health problems: 33.4% of Malaysian between the 16-24 age group, 29.65% of Malaysian between the 25-34 age group, and 28.2% of Malaysian between the 35-44 age group. Higher education students are part of young people who may also suffer from mental health disorders. Samsudin et al. [7] reported that undergraduate