Studying online from home and social anxiety among university students: The role of societal and interpersonal mattering

Abstract

<span lang="EN-US">Literature suggested that the enforcement of lockdowns such as the Movement Control Order (MCO) had limited physical social interaction and therefore increased the inclination on social media and other means of digital communication. This shift of social pattern was reported to alter the way young adults develop their mattering, the sense of how much they matter to others. While mattering has been reported as the protective factors against social anxiety, this study aims to investigate the contribution of interpersonal mattering and societal mattering on social anxiety among university students who had to study online from home during the enforcement of the MCO in Malaysia amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021. Purposive sampling was conducted to recruit 158 participants (89 females, 69 males) with their ages ranging from 18 to 25 years of age (M=21.77, SD=1.54) to respond to Mattering to Others Questionnaire, University Mattering Scale, and Social Phobia Inventory. The results of multiple linear regression supported the hypotheses that both types of mattering negatively predict social anxiety, and that interpersonal mattering was no longer a significant predictor when controlling for societal mattering.</span>

Using a transdiagnostic approach to examine the associations among internalizing symptoms, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance

“…The total score range is 0-68, with scores of 19 and above suggesting a possible diagnosis of social phobia. Internal consistency, similar to recent work with undergraduate college students (e.g., Fawwaz et al, 2022), for our sample was excellent (α = .92).…”

The Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Anxiety: A Systematic Review

“…In Ma [65], resilience, a facet of psychological capital, had a significant relationship with social anxiety (r = −0.66, p < 0.001). Fawwaz et al [53] collected data during a lockdown, finding that interpersonal mattering, the inclination to perceive oneself as important to others, had a non-significant relationship with social anxiety (β = −0.04, p < 0.618). However, they discovered that societal mattering, the feeling that one makes a difference in society, had a significant relationship (β = −0.41, p < 0.001).…”