TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychological impact of COVID-19 and lock down measures
T2 - An online cross-sectional multicounty study on Asian university students
AU - Chinna, Karuthan
AU - Sundarasen, Sheela
AU - Khoshaim, Heba Bakr
AU - Kamaludin, Kamilah
AU - Nurunnabi, Mohammad
AU - Baloch, Gul Mohammad
AU - Hossain, Syed Far Abid
AU - Sukayt, Areej
AU - Dalina, Nevi
AU - Rajagopalan, Usha
AU - Kumar, Ramesh
AU - Memon, Zahid
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2021 Chinna et al.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures have taken a toll on every level of the society, worldwide. This study examines their psychological impact on university students in Asia. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between April and May 2020 in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, India and Indonesia. The Zung's self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and questions on adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies were used in this study. A total of 3,679 students from the seven countries participated in this study. Overall, 21.9% and 13.7% of the students in this study experienced mild to moderate and severe to extreme levels of anxiety. More than 20% of the students from China and Bangladesh reported severe to extreme level of anxiety compared to below 10% of the students from Indonesia, Malaysia and India. Among the female students, 15.9% experienced severe to extreme level of anxiety compared to 10.6% among the males. Females from Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia experienced significantly higher levels of anxiety compared to their male counterparts. Acceptance was the most used and Seeking Social Support was the least used coping strategies among the students. There were significant differences in the usage of the four strategies by countries.
AB - The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown measures have taken a toll on every level of the society, worldwide. This study examines their psychological impact on university students in Asia. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted between April and May 2020 in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, India and Indonesia. The Zung's self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and questions on adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies were used in this study. A total of 3,679 students from the seven countries participated in this study. Overall, 21.9% and 13.7% of the students in this study experienced mild to moderate and severe to extreme levels of anxiety. More than 20% of the students from China and Bangladesh reported severe to extreme level of anxiety compared to below 10% of the students from Indonesia, Malaysia and India. Among the female students, 15.9% experienced severe to extreme level of anxiety compared to 10.6% among the males. Females from Bangladesh, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia experienced significantly higher levels of anxiety compared to their male counterparts. Acceptance was the most used and Seeking Social Support was the least used coping strategies among the students. There were significant differences in the usage of the four strategies by countries.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85111835294&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0253059
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0253059
M3 - Review article
C2 - 34343187
AN - SCOPUS:85111835294
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 16
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 8 August
M1 - e0253059
ER -