Coping Behaviour Among High School Students Towards Social Media Anxiety: Experiences from Cluster and Non-cluster Schools in Malaysia

Social media that has allowed people to share and access information instantly could be both a blessing and a curse depending on use. Addiction to social media has been found to cause harmful effects such as anxiety, especially among teenagers due to social media-related problems such as cyberbullying, sexual solicitation and exposure to explicit content. This study aimed to identify the coping behaviour among high school students towards social media anxiety. A quantitative research method with convenience sampling was used to obtain the outcomes for this study through questionnaires distributed to 395 respondents from five high schools around Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. The data collected from this sample was analysed using SPSS version 24, which included descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, Pearson’s correlation analysis and regression analysis. The findings showed that the majority of the students from the cluster schools agreed that social media anxiety had affected their coping behaviour. Meanwhile, students from non-cluster schools described that their coping behaviour was not affected by social media anxiety. Based on these findings, several suggestions have been recommended for students, parents and schools to ensure intensive involvement in activities that can alleviate students from social media anxiety.