The Role of Media Entertainment in Managing Stress among Malaysian Students: Escapism vs Adaptive Coping Strategies

Abstract

This reserch critically examines how students at a private university in Malaysia, employ media entertainment as a coping mechanism for academic stress. It delves into the intricate dynamics of media's dual role, functioning as a potential stress alleviator through adaptive coping strategies and concurrently posing challenges related to distraction and procrastination through escapism. The research objectives involve examining the correlation between escapism and stress as well as, exploring the relationship between adaptive coping strategies and stress. The study also attempts to investigate potential gender-based differences in stress levels.This study employs a correlational quantitative research design that utilizes, convenience sampling to gather responses from a targeted population comprising of students from a private university in Malaysia. The sample size includes 370 students (185 male, 185 female), representative of all seven faculties in the University.The research instruments used in this study comprise the Escapism Scale (ES), Coping Scale (CS), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). The data analysis is done using inferential statistical methods. The study's results indicate that there was no significant relationship between escapism and stress, r (368) = .01, p > .85. However, a significant relationship (r = .21, p < .001) has emerged between adaptive coping strategy and stress, signifying that media entertainment, when used as an adaptive coping strategy, correlates with a reduction in stress levels. Moreover, the study's findings also indicate that media entertainment plays a role in coping with stress, particularly among male students, who experience higher stress levels than their female counterparts.