Risk Factors Of Loneliness And Anxiety Symptoms During Movement Control Order Among University Students: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

COVID-19 is a dreadful virus with extreme infectiousness as it spreads through both direct and indirect methods, as long as human movement exists. Malaysia introduced the first phase of Movement Control Order (MCO) on 18th of March, following the success of other earlier countries such as China, Scotland and Eng-land. A number of prohibitions were enforced to minimize human movements in the country. This includes the temporary closure of all educational institutions. The closure of institutions results in the division of university students into two groups: (1) students who were stranded in their respective universities and (2) students who managed to return to their respective hometowns. Meanwhile, prevalence of mental health disturbances among university students was found to be high during MCO due to loneliness and constant pressure from chaotic situa-tion. Previous evidences from other population indicate different prevalence of loneliness across social groups such as gender, economic status and locality. This paper provides a comparative analysis to discover the risk factors of loneliness among university students. Results show that most university students exhibit moderate to high loneliness, however there is no significant difference of loneli-ness across gender and nationality. No significant difference of loneliness is iden-tified between students who were living in residential college during MCO and those who were staying out-campus. Initiatives to address loneliness issues in residential college is further discussed.