Review of Social Anxiety: A Stymie to Learning

Asmit Pandey it0008@iiitbhopal.ac.in

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chanchal Bundela
IIIT Bhopal, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh- 462003 Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
India IIIT Bhopal, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh- 462003
asmit0701@gmail.com India
Dhruva Pandey chanchalbundela0606@gmail.com
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Md. Arish
IIIT Bhopal, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh- 462003 Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
India IIIT Bhopal, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh- 462003
dhruvapandeys4uu@gmail.com India
Dr. Priyank Jain arish123.ahamad@gmail.com
Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
IIIT Bhopal, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh- 462003
India
Abstract - Social anxiety is an inconvenient disorder in many examinations will play a pivotal role in determining their
situations in life but in the case of a student it is a bit more future.
difficult. School and colleges are places where students are not
only expected, but also required to put up their queries and learn
new things.
Students avoid taking part in group activities and
projects which becomes the cause of their lack of confidence and
knowledge. Students tend to miss out on opportunities due to lack
of confidence and communication skills.
Social anxiety can make it difficult to focus on
academics. It can hurt class participation and can distract
individuals from group activities. It can create not only a social
situation that contributes to further anxiety, but also a level of
stress about unrelated issues (for example, academic
performance) that make anxiety worse. After scrutinizing various
students, it was found that most of them were hesitant in raising
their queries even after constant efforts of the faculty, seniors
and their friends.
Methods - An open survey was conducted on 205 students from
various states of India. They were presented with different
hypothetical scenarios that dealt with different levels of social
anxiety. After which they were asked if they would ask someone Fig 1. Concept of Study Anxiety
for help or would rather hesitate in asking for assistance.
Keywords - Social anxiety, Academic performance, Confidence Fig 1, provides an insight of various sources of anxiety for
and Knowledge. college students. It can clearly be seen that Exams,
Presentation, Language, Social, and Mathematics are the
I. INTRODUCTION main contributors to anxiety. It was further observed that a
Data from all over the population has consistently shown higher level of anxiety led to lower academic performance.
that social anxiety is a disorder with an early onset, generally “Anxiety sensitivity- fear of anxiety related sensations
in the mid-teens.Several studies have shown that social due to perceived consequences of physical, mental or social
anxiety is generally seen in teens below 18. harm- might play an important role in the development of
In India the main documented reason for anxiety among social anxiety.”[1].
the students in schools, colleges and adolescents is the Unlike panic disorders, in which individuals typically
parent’s high expectations and pressure of academic fear anxiety symptoms out of fear of physical harm, socially
achievement. As a student moves on, the difficulty level and anxious individuals are afraid of the consequences that
ferociousness begins to increase as the performance in these others might notice their anxiety. Socially anxious college
students also judge others who appear anxious more
negatively than do college students without social anxiety[2].
The current study found out that most of the college
students experience some degree of social anxiety on
occasion. However, many suffer chronic anxiety across
social situations coupled with a strong fear of negative
evaluation.
The 2008 National Comorbidity Survey – Replication
(NCS-R) provides prevalence estimates of 12 month and
life-time prevalence of DSM-IV SAD as 7.1% and 12.1%
respectively with a higher prevalence in females [3] rendering
social anxiety the fourth most common disorder behind
Major Depression (16..6%), Alcohol abuse (13..2%), and
Specific Phobia (12.5%).[4] It has also been witnessed that
most females suffer from social anxiety because of their
lower population in the field of technical studies as shown in
Fig 2. These females have shown abated communication
skills and are less likely to raise queries as compared to other
courses where they mark a more substantial presence.
Previous research on the sociodemographic correlates of
anxiety reveals well-established relationships with gender
and socioeconomic status. Gender effects for anxiety
disorders and symptoms have been found in studies of
children and adolescents. A large number of studies have
shown that females have a higher mean score on social
anxiety than males. This means that social anxiety among
female children is higher. This observation is also consistent
with the data that has been collected for adolescents to
adults.[5]
Fig 2. Gender
Ratio in Technical Studies
Impact of anxiety on college students
High levels of anxiety have been shown to degrade
student academic experiences in college [6][7]. More
specifically, anxiety has been shown to negatively affect
student cognitive and affective outcomes[8][9][10]. For example,
a study on 106 college students enrolled in a general
psychology course showed that anxiety can inhibit exam
performance if it cannot be resolved in some way [11]. Another
study examining anxiety in second year engineering students
found that high anxiety led to lower GPAs [12]. Similarly,
Culler and Holahan (1980)[13] scrutinized the relationship
between anxiety levels and incoming first-semester students’
study habits and performance and concluded that students
with high anxiety had poorer study skills and achieved lower
first-semester GPAs than students with low anxiety. Lastly, a
recent study found that students with higher general anxiety
in academics were more likely to report lower course grades
and intent to leave the major than students who report less
anxiety.[14]
While a high level of anxiety in students has been
shown to inhibit their academic performance. In some
instances a moderate amount of anxiety has been shown to
improve student motivation and performance [15][16][17]. The
Yerkes-Dodson law[18] suggests that performance increases
with mental arousal (stress and anxiety), but only up to a
point[19]. Once stress is too high, then performance decreases.
The relationship between stress and performance can depend
on the difficulty of the activity [19]. For example, if a task is
simple or mundane, then students may be unmotivated to
complete the task and thus, stress can serve as a useful
motivator. Conversely, difficult or unfamiliar tasks require
lower levels of arousal in order for students to concentrate,
and even moderate levels of stress can negatively impact
performance. While some studies exploring the relationship
between student anxiety levels and academic performance
support the Yerkes-Dodson law, to our knowledge, no
studies have been conducted in the context of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)[20],[21].
Additionally, the strength of the
relationship between anxiety and
performance varies across studies from
correlations with extremely negative
values to positive values, yet a meta-
analysis of published studies exploring the
relationship between anxiety and
performance yielded an overall negative
relationship between anxiety and
performance (r = −0 .21)[22]. While additional studies
and meta-analyses need to be done, the work to date suggests
that decreasing high levels of student anxiety, and
identifying the factors that increase anxiety could maximize
student academic success and retention in science.
II. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

Fig 3. Student suffering from Anxiety
From Fig 3, it was observed that about 135 (65.85%)
students chose not to seek help as they were too concerned
about bothering others. 43(20.98%) of them did not answer
yes to even one of the presented scenarios. This observation
seems coherent with the 2018 Fall Health Assessment of the
American College Health Association, according to which
63% of college students in the United States felt
overwhelming anxiety in raising their queries.
Fig 4.Gender Based Study Of Various Anxiety Sources
Fig 4, shows four major types of anxieties faced by
students. The results show that exam anxiety is a leading
source. The highest score of this source is the question “How
often do you feel anxious on the examination due to the lack
of preparation”. Many studies and researches have shown
that students tend to show lack of confidence and a high
level of anxiety during the examination phases. Further
studies were conducted in the same way for the
presentation ,language and social skills, in which it was
noticed that the males were showing slightly less symptoms
of anxiousness as compared to the females.
Fig 5. Comparison of Anxiety in Students
Fig 5, draws comparison of students’ anxiety level over the
past few years. During this study data about the
overwhelming anxiety in college students from previous
years was compared to the fresh data, and it was noticed that
this problem is being overlooked which can turn into a great
disaster for the students in future.
III. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE
After going through the lock, stock, and barrel of the various
researches, it can be concluded that social anxiety poses a
serious issue for students. It inhibits them from working with
their full potential and hinders their growth as a learner. The
data provided by various researches seemed to fit
immaculately with various hypotheses claiming that anxiety
not only degrades students’ experience as a learner, but also
strangles them and leads to poor performance in their future.
The studies also throw light on the more serious issues that
anxiety poses on society. There is ample evidence to reinforce
the claim that social anxiety, if left unchecked in its early
stage, can lead to severe chronic disorders.
The world has witnessed some major changes in recent years
due to the outbreak of a pandemic. One such change is the
shifting of methods of education from traditional offline
methods to online platforms. This shift has brought a newer
and rather more intriguing hypothesis to the limelight.
Researchers, for many years, have claimed that students are
less likely to feel anxious in online classes than in offline
ones. The debate has continued for years but a concrete
conclusion was never reached as there was a lack of data of
students attending online classes. But now, with so many
students attending online classes, sufficient data can be
collected to reach a conclusion. This research can even turn
out to be a milestone in designing new methods to cope with
social anxiety.
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