Predict Malaysia university student anxiety from social media comparison and emotional regulation

Ong, Jing Xuan (2026) Predict Malaysia university student anxiety from social media comparison and emotional regulation. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

The tendency for university students to overuse social media has increased, as has the use of social media in relation to social comparison, which may result in psychological suffering, particularly worry. Social media and mental health are widely discussed, but few studies have examined how social media comparison and emotional regulation control predict anxiety in Malaysian university students, particularly in the local cultural setting. The study aim to investigate the relationship and predictive power between social media comparison, emotional regulation and anxiety, alongside exploring potential gender differences. Data were collect from 283 Malaysia university student which from age of 18 to 23 by using purporsive sampling. There validated self-report scales were used in the research to determine the presence of social media comparison, emotional regulation and anxiety. The relationships and predictive effects between the variables were analyzed and studied using JASP software. Result indicated that there was a statistically significant positive correlation between social media comparison and anxiety among the university students. Nonetheless, the emotion regulation did not have a strong influence on the levels of anxiety. Additionally, there were no differences in social media comparison and emotional regulation between the genders. The results have feasible implications on university counsellors, educators and policymakers to consider creating specific mental health interventions, including social media literacy programmes to assist students with their mental health during the digital age.

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