Malaysians report high levels of negative emotions during MCO, says think tank

According to a survey undertaken by the think tank on housing and crowding, and the state of mental well-being of the occupants during the MCO, 48 per cent of the respondents self-reported experiencing varying levels of anxiety, depression (45 per cent), and varying levels of stress (34 per cent).

Of these, 22 per cent of respondents self-reported severe and extremely severe anxiety, while 20 per cent and 15 per cent experiencing similarly alarming levels of depression and stress, respectively.

"Unfortunately, we were unable to locate national level 'normal time' baseline proportions to compare these proportions to. However, the absence of the baseline does not invalidate the seriousness of the extent to which Malaysians are experiencing negative emotions during the MCO," The Centre said.

The study was conducted via an online survey, which was distributed using a snowball sampling method between April 5 and April 10, 2020.

Set up in July 2019, The Centre is a research organisation dedicated to centrist views in the Malaysian context.

It aims to communicate its research and views in a digestible manner for the benefit of all while striving to have more than 50 per cent of its output in Bahasa Malaysia.

In the survey, The Centre collected 1,103 responses, of which 19 were rejected due to duplication and irregular responses, leaving the think tank with a sample of 1,084.

With respect to areas where they lived, 57 per cent of the respondents reported residing in urban surroundings, with the remainder 43 per cent staying in suburban and rural areas.

In terms of housing, 48 per cent reported are living in terraced houses, followed by 22 per cent in condominiums and apartments while 3.0 per cent of respondents in low-cost housing.

Overall, the residents of low-cost housing units are experiencing higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress compared to those living in other types of housing.

The level of negative emotions experienced by single occupants are much higher compared to those who are living with other people, while 54 per cent of residents living in single occupancy households report signs of depression, followed by 50 per cent and 37 per cent having signs of anxiety and stress, respectively.

Mental well-being has a significant impact on the economy with a recent study carried out by RELATE Malaysia showing that in 2018, mental health issue among employees were estimated to cost RM14 billion or one per cent of the gross domestic product.

The Centre's survey also found that women are experiencing significantly more negative emotions compared to men.

Notably, a higher proportion of women in the sample exhibited severe or extremely severe signs of depression, anxiety and stress (21 per cent, 26 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively) compared to men (14 per cent, 15 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively).

The difference between women and men is more observable for stress and anxiety, where 38 per cent and 48 per cent of women, respectively, reported experiencing these two negative emotions, compared to 25 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively, for men.