The level of social anxiety among Malaysian undergraduate students in Kulliyyah of Education, IIUM

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to measure the level of social anxiety (SA) based on gender, year of study, and academic achievement among Malaysian undergraduate students in the Kulliyyah of Education (KOED), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). In addition, the focus of this study was to address the relationship between SA and the level of social interaction anxiety. In general, SA is a common mental health problem, especially among students. However, there are a few studies related to SA, especially among Malaysian undergraduate students. Thus, the results of this study could contribute to the development of research in SA among Malaysian undergraduate students. A quota sampling technique was used in this study. Gender and students’ year of study were chosen for the strata (groups) of the sample. A total number of 200 respondents out of 784 volunteered respondents were undergraduate students in KOED. The Social Phobia Scale (SPS) with the reliability of (α=0.96) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) (α=0.90) were used in this study. The demographic details in Section A were presented in percentages and table of frequencies. The current study revealed that the relationship between the level of SA and social interaction anxiety has a strong significant correlation and it was measured by using bivariate Pearson correlation coefficients. However, there was no significant difference in the level of SA due to gender using the independent samples t-test. There was also no significant difference in the level of SA due to two variables, namely students’ year of study and academic achievement. Both were measured by using a one-way ANOVA test. Overall, the total number of Malaysian undergraduate students who were having social performance anxiety was higher than those who were not having it. On the other hand, the prevalence rate of those who were having low social interaction anxiety was higher than those with a high level of SA.