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

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.