Artikel IYRES: Perfectionism and Social Anxiety among Emerging Adults in Universities

Perfectionism and Social Anxiety among Emerging Adults in Universities

Mansor Abu Talib [1] ^+, Chin Siang Ang ², Norhayati Mohd Noor ³

¹ Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia

² Faculty of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, UCSI University

³ Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Abstract. Social anxiety is a serious mental-health problem among emerging adult and has a great impact on their current and future functioning. The prevalence rate of social anxiety among Malaysian youth particularly university students were reported to be high and must be intervened. The influence of attitude such as perfectionism is associated with fear and avoidance of social interactions. The aim of this paper is to discuss on the prevalence of social anxiety and the relationship between perfectionism and social anxiety among emerging adult particularly university students. A total of 1618 students were recruited as respondents from four public and four private universities across Malaysia that were identified via a multistage cluster sampling. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Heimberg et al. 1999) and Almost Perfect Scale- Revised (Slaney, Rice, Mobley, Trippi, & Ashby, 2001) were used as research instruments. Result and implication for relevant intervention were discussed.

Keywords: perfectionism, social anxiety, young adult, youth, university

+ Corresponding author. Tel: 03-8946 7085; fax: 03-8946 7093

E-mail address: mansorat@upm.edu.my