Psychological Impact of COVID-19 and Lockdown among University Students in Malaysia: Implications and Policy Recommendations

Sheela Sundarasen, Karuthan Chinna, Kamilah Kamaludin, Mohammad Nurunnabi, Gul Mohammad Baloch, Heba Bakr Khoshaim, Syed Far Abid Hossain and Areej Sukayt
Additional contact information
Sheela Sundarasen: Department of Accounting, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
Karuthan Chinna: School of Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor’s University, No. 1, Jalan Taylors, Subang Jaya 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
Kamilah Kamaludin: Department of Accounting, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
Mohammad Nurunnabi: Department of Accounting, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
Gul Mohammad Baloch: School of Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Taylor’s University, No. 1, Jalan Taylors, Subang Jaya 47500, Selangor, Malaysia
Heba Bakr Khoshaim: Deanship of Educational Services, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
Syed Far Abid Hossain: College of Business Administration, International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), 4 Embankment Drive Road, Sector-10, Uttara Model Town, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
Areej Sukayt: Department of Accounting, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown has taken the world by storm. This study examines its impact on the anxiety level of university students in Malaysia during the peak of the crisis and the pertinent characteristics affecting their anxiety. A cross-sectional online survey, using Zung’s self-rating anxiety questionnaire was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. Out of the 983 respondents, 20.4%, 6.6%, and 2.8% experienced minimal to moderate, marked to severe, and most extreme levels of anxiety. Female gender (OR = 21.456, 95% CI = 1.061, 1.998, p = 0.020), age below 18 years (OR = 4.147, 95% CI = 1.331, 12.918, p = 0.014), age 19 to 25 (OR = 3.398, 95% CI = 1.431, 8.066, p = 0.006), pre-university level of education (OR = 2.882, 95% CI = 1.212, 6.854, p = 0.017), management studies (OR = 2.278, 95% CI = 1.526, 3.399, p < 0.001), and staying alone (OR = 2.208, 95% CI = 1.127, 4.325, p = 0.021) were significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety. The main stressors include financial constraints, remote online teaching and uncertainty about the future with regard to academics and career. Stressors are predominantly financial constraints, remote online learning, and uncertainty related to their academic performance, and future career prospects.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; social psychology; university students; Zung’s self-rating anxiety scale (SAS); Malaysia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6206/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6206/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6206-:d:404621

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().