Demographic characteristics and anxiety in the educational setting during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia: A cross-sectional study

Health Sci Rep. 2022 Aug 18;5(5):e792. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.792. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Abstract

Background and aims: This study aims to analyze the relationship between gender, age, occupation, residence, and anxiety in the education environment during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Methods: This study used a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional design to determine anxiety using the DASS 42 questionnaire given to 181 respondents. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling, and the data analysis used was the Chi-square test and multivariate analysis.

Results: It was found that 66.7% of teenagers experienced anxiety, while 33.3% of adults experienced anxiety. In addition, the school-age community (86.2%) experienced higher anxiety compared with the working-age community (13.8%) who experienced anxiety. Women experienced more significant anxiety (66.7%) compared with men (33.3%). People living on the island of Java (74.7%) have a greater incidence of anxiety compared with people living outside Java (25.3%).

Conclusion: There is a significant relationship between the type of occupation and the incidence of anxiety with p < 0.05 (OR = 0.341). A significant correlation was found between age with the incidence of anxiety with p < 0.05 (OR = 0.489). The demographic factors altogether had significant relationships with the anxiety in the educational environment during the COVID-19 pandemic with a p value < 0.05 and R Square of 0.069. There is a strong relationship between the demographic factors and the incidence of anxiety in the community's educational environment during the COVID-19 pandemic with p < 0.05. It is suggested that women, school-age communities, or the un-employment community need to be supported to alleviate the impact of COVID-19 on anxiety through several programs.

Keywords: COVID‐19; age; anxiety; demographic; educational.