The relationship between self-esteem, social support, stress and social anxiety during the transition to endemic stage of Covid-19 among university students in Malaysia.

• Main Author: Loo, Chi Ying
• Format: Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General); HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
• Online Access: http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5102/1/fyp_GC_2022_LCY.pdf; http://eprints.utar.edu.my/5102/

After nearly two years of battling the pandemic, Malaysia has entered a transition to the endemic phase of COVID-19. Social anxiety can be adversely affected by the transition phase due to re-enter to the social situation. This study aims to investigate the relationship between self-esteem, social support, stress and social anxiety during the transition to endemic stage of COVID-19 among university students in Malaysia. Four instruments were used to measure the variables such as 20-Item Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, 10-Item Rosenberg Self esteem Scale, 12-Item Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) and 10- Item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). A cross-sectional design with quantitative methodology was employed, participants were recruited through purposive sampling by using online survey. A total of 89 participants was university students in Malaysia, aged between 18 years old to 25 years old (M = 22.1 years, SD = 1.33 years). Female participants occupied 70.8% (n = 63) while male participants occupied 29.2% (n = 26). The result showed that self-esteem was negatively correlated with social anxiety while stress was positively correlated with social anxiety. However, there was no correlation between social support and social anxiety. In addition, only self-esteem and stress were found to able predict social anxiety while perceived social support cannot. In the future, researchers can expand and further explore this study with other variables to examine other additional factors of social anxiety among university students in Malaysia.