Measuring Persistence in Youth Competencies Development Using Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

Persistence or hardworking is a self-regulation, self-control, an attitudes and beliefs pertaining work
behavior, effort, strong will and motivational construct. This behavior is an important element for youth
to build up their ability in planning and managing their goals. To nurture these positive behaviors, a study
needs to be conducted to explore it from the aspect of psychophysiology. The objective of this paper is to
measure the level of persistence from the HRV perspective. The Biofeedback Technique has been
considered as the best mechanism to measure persistence profile of youth by investigating their level of
achievement goal orientation. The subjects were exposed to the method of intrapersonal communication
through zikr. The experiments were conducted by investigating their efforts, goal orientation and
competence within one’s self to achieve the targeted task. The study conducted involved questionnaires,
structured interviews and clinical experiments using the Biofeedback emWave® Desktop Stress Relief
System Software equipment. The results from these tests showed that there is a significant relationship
between persistence and the HRV spectrum. A hardworking youth have higher HF spectrum compared to
the lazy youth. The study shows that the persistence profile can be measured using the psychophysiology
technique. This will enhance the individual profiling process that will assist competencies youth
development program.