IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON ANXIETY AND OBSESSION LEVEL OF THE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND ITS RELATION TO THEIR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Abstract

With the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, concerns related to panic and increasing anxiety have been multiplying by each passing day. Consequently, schools, colleges, educational institutions, and workplaces have been shut since mid of March, 2020 in India. This study attempted to find the psychological repercussions on academic performance of university students while focusing upon finding the anxiety and obsession level related to COVID-19. The study exhibited the correlation between anxiety and academic performance of university students and between the level of obsession and academic performance related to coronavirus among university students of India. 157 students from the age group of 17-25 years enrolled to undergraduate and postgraduate courses participated in the study. Snowball sampling technique was used to reach students through online mode. Two tools, namely, CAS (Coronavirus Anxiety Scale) and OCS (Obsession with COVID-19 Scale) developed by Prof. Sherman Lee with the team of psychologists from the Christopher Newport University were adapted for the presented study by further adding a dimension of academic performance in the tool. The results revealed that 10.8% students were highly anxious and 28% students were highly obsessed with the coronavirus and have developed disturbed thinking patterns. The correlation between anxiety and academic performance of students as well as between obsession and academic performance of students were found to be statistically significant (p ≤ .001) with a moderate level of correlation. Overall, the study found that the outbreak of coronavirus has impacted the psychological health as well as the academic performance of university students in India.