Gender Differences in Adult Separation Anxiety among University Students in Kolkata: A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study

Description

Soham Sarma¹ and Argha Nath Bhattacharyya² (Department of Psychology, Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata, West Bengal¹ and
Department of Statistics, Sister Nivedita University, Kolkata, West Bengal²)

Adult separation anxiety (ASA) is now acknowledged to be a form of anxiety that can continue to impact, or develop, into adulthood (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Silove & Rees, 2014) which can be exacerbated when making the transition to University. This research study aimed at the evaluation of ASA among university students of Kolkata, the comparison of ASA among males and females and assessing ASA association with gender and prevalence among the students. It was a comparative cross-sectional design procedure for assessment of 30 male students (15) and Female students (15) using Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire (ASAQ/ASA-27) developed by Manicavasagar et al. (2003). The descriptive statistics, Shapiro-Wilk’s test, Levene’s test, independent-samples t-test, Welch’s t-test, Cohen’s d, Mann-Whitney U test, and chi-square test were used for data analysis, and Cramer’s V was used for effect size. Mean ASAQ score was 35.80 (SD = 12.95). Females scored higher (M = 39.00, SD = 14.40) than males (M = 32.60, SD = 10.80), a moderate effect (Cohen’s d = -0.502), though not statistically significant, t(28) = -1.374, p = .180 (Mann-Whitney U, p = .184). 80% of the students had high ASA scores (cut off ≥ 25) and there was no association between gender and high/low score (χ² = 0.00, p = 1.00, Cramer’s V = 0.00). No statistically significant difference between the two (males & females), but there was a moderate effect size, implying that females may bear the brunt of the burden. Routine testing of students who have made the transition to university life is strongly supported due to the high prevalence of elevated ASA.