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PreprintCited by 61COVID-19 and Mental HealthStudent Stress and CopingMental Health Treatment and Access

The psychological impact of coronavirus on university students and its socio-economic determinants in Malaysia.

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Irfan, Muhammad, Shahudin, Faizah, Hooper, Vincent James, Akram, Waqar, Abdul Ghani, Rosmaiza Binti·2020·INQUIRY The Journal of Health Care Organization Provision and Financing
DOI 10.1101/2020.10.27.20220723PMC PMC8606969

Preprint — published as 10.1177/00469580211056217

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Abstract

This article examines the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon university students’ anxiety level and finds the factors associated with the anxiety disorder in Malaysia. We collected data from 958 students from 16 different universities using an originally designed questionnaire. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 7-item (GAD-7) was used to estimate the anxiety. We find that 12.3% students were normal, whereas 30.5% were experiencing mild, 31.1% moderate, and 26.1% severe anxiety. Surprisingly, only 37.2% of students were aware of mental health support which was provided by their universities. Moreover, it was found that gender as male (Odds Ratio (OR= 0.798, 95% Confidence Interval (CI)= 0.61 - 1.04)) and having internet access (OR = 0.44, 95% CI= 0.24 - 0.80) were alleviating factors for the anxiety. Whereas, age above than 20 years (OR= 1.30, 95% CI= 0.96 - 1.75), ethnicity Chinese (OR=1.72, 95% CI= 0.95 - 3.1), any other disease (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.44 - 2.79), decreased family income (OR=1.71, 95% CI=1.34 - 2.17), more time spent on watching COVID-19 related news (OR=1.52, 95% CI=1.17 - 1.97), and infected relative or friends (OR=1.62, 95% CI=1.06 - 2.50) were risk factors for anxiety among students. We suggest that the government of Malaysia should monitor the mental health of the universities’ students more closely and universities should open online mental health support clinics to avoid the adverse impacts of the anxiety disorder.

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Irfan, M., Shahudin, F., Hooper, V. J., Akram, W., & Abdul Ghani, R. B.
Affiliations
  • Xiamen University Malaysia (MY)
  • Sukkur IBA University (PK)
Corresponding author
Irfan, Muhammad
ORCID
Venue
INQUIRY The Journal of Health Care Organization Provision and Financing
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2020-10-30
Volume
58
Pages
469580211056217-469580211056217
ISSN
0046-9580 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1101/2020.10.27.20220723
PMC
PMC8606969
OpenAlex
W3121918409
Cited by
61
References
0
Citations by year
2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 15
FWCI
9.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • INQUIRY The Journal of Health Care Organization Provision and Financing (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • medRxiv (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • SSRN Electronic Journal (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Munich Personal RePEc Archive (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Munich Personal RePEc Archive (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Xiamen University Malaysia
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, university students, anxiety, psychological impact, socio-economic determinants, mental health support, risk factors, household income, ethnicity, news exposure, Malaysia
MeSH terms
COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adult, Depression, Humans, Malaysia, Socioeconomic Factors, Students, Universities, Young Adult

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