Understanding of relationship between self-efficacy, adversity quotient, Covid-19-related stress, anxiety and depression among the first-year undergraduate students in Malaysia and Indonesia during Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

First-year undergraduate students may experience stress due to adjustment to a new academic environment, and coping with challenges related to COVID-19 pandemic such as new online learning experience, suspended accommodations and limited physical students’ activities. This potentially affects students’ mental health. Therefore, the objectives of this research are, firstly, to examine the nationality factors differences in COVID-19-related stress, anxiety and depression among the first-year undergraduate students in Malaysia and Indonesia during COVID-19 pandemic, secondly, to examine the relationships between self-efficacy, adversity quotient, COVID-19-related stress, anxiety and depression, third, to examine predicting roles of COVID-19-related stress, anxiety and depression, lastly, to adopt and validate the translated COVID-19 Student Stress Questionnaire (CSSQ). This cross-sectional study was caried out with 183 firstyear undergraduate students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and 211 first-year undergraduate students at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta during the academic year of 2021-2022. In terms of nationality differences, results showed that Malaysian students significantly differed from Indonesian students based on levels of COVID-19- related stress (Malaysian students were higher), anxiety (Indonesian students were higher) and depression (Indonesian students were higher. In term of correlation results showed that self-efficacy and adversity quotient were negatively correlated with anxiety and depression. A series of multiple linear regression results showed that self-efficacy and adversity quotient significantly predicted COVID-19-related stress, anxiety and depression. In terms of potential implications, the present study suggests that the translated CSSQ is a highly reliable questionnaire to be used in both Malaysian and Indonesian language to measure the stress levels of students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the present study found that while most the first-year undergraduate students reported low level of self-efficacy and adversity quotient, they reported moderate level of COVID-19-related stress, anxiety and depression. The results of the present study suggest any student affairs and development at university to organize relevant programs to first-year undergraduate students such as counselling and workshop which provide a more in-depth understanding related to the stress management and other aspect of mental health. Moreover, trainings such as effective goal-setting training, performance accomplishments training and problem-based learning class are needed to improve the self-efficacy and adversity quotient which could help students in coping with their study