Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

ISSN No:-2456-2165

Impact of Stress and Emotional Reactions

due to the Covid-19 Pandemic in India
K. C. Meenakshi
(Lecturer)
Institute of hotel Management and catering technology

Abstract:- Covid-19 has resulted in disruption to many According to a study conducted by a Delhi-based
lives. Here we provide a brief report on 80 respondents’ mental health service platform The Center of Healing
perception and emotional well-being due to covid-19. In (TCOH), there has been an increase in stress and anxiety
late June 2021, Participants responded to the uncertainty among people since the Covid-19 pandemic. The study
regarding mental health as well as a significant level of revealed that the rates of relapse among people who had
stress and difficulty coping with covid-19 disruption. recovered from mental health conditions have risen and
These outcomes were related to the higher level of due to the spike in need for their services. It noted that
emotional reactions and external locus of control. Male ever since the pandemic hit India over few months back,
participants reported worst emotional and stressed well- followed by an unprecedented lockdown, stress and
being than compared female participants. This result anxiety levels have been on the rise. Stress poses many
suggests that some participants may be at particular risk challenges compared to society as it hinders people’s life
for stress and poor emotional well being due to pandemic from acquiring poor emotional reactions which are
and highlight the urgent need for intervention and significantly associated with elevated levels of stress.
prevention strategies.
II. OBJECTIVE
Keywords:- Literature, Stress, Emotional Reactions,
Pandemic, Covid-19.  To study the relationship between the level of stress and
emotional reactions. This study sought to accomplish the
I. INTRODUCTION following research objectives.
 To determine the level of stress experienced by the
The corona virus disease, 2019 (COVID-19) began in Indians.
the city of Wuhan in China and has quickly spread  To determine the level of emotional reactions by Indians.
around the world, by generating the global health crisis  To identify if there is any significant relationship
with massive disruption/ proportions. Due to which between the level of stress and emotional reactions by
people found themselves and forced to cope with new Indians.
emotional reaction challenges mainly with stress,
inducing a considerable degree of fear and worry with III. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
underlying health conditions. This pandemic has caused a
real threat both physically and emotionally. According to This section provides the related literature which
research the people’s life has been severely restricted, provides the strong foundation and scientific basis of this
slow down due to the spread of the virus with adverse research. A total of 78% of Indian people experience various
psychosocial consequences. The covid-19 is not just a degrees of stress. The stressors can be categorized under
medical phenomenon that simultaneously affecting each social, cultural and environmental factors. As per the reports
individual which is marked with the effect of level of 74% of Indians experience stress and emotional reactions
severity, pain, and causing disruption. during this pandemic and simultaneously 88% reported
anxiety amid COVID-19. Students report experiencing
According to global scenarios the recent study academic stress as the large amount of content to be mastered
revealed that this pandemic exerts the people with fear in a small amount of time (Abouserie, 2020). Reportedly the
that their close ones or they might become ill or may die patients, medical staff, older adults and children are
by generating psychological stress and emotional vulnerably experiencing to stress and emotional reactions,
breakdown. The impact of the pandemic is drastically mainly psychological health issues during COVID-19
changing the lives of many people, including the lives of pandemic (Erkutulu &Chafra, 2020). In addition to that
young people. As schools and universities have closed COVID-19 pandemic affects and creates the correlated stress
exams and are postponed, the usual health information and emotional reactions among the citizens of India. Most of
service is limited, socializing with friends and wider the researchers hold the certain percentage of Indian people
family is discouraged. In these circumstances can be who finds it difficult to survive this COVID-19 due to
tough for people as it affects social, physical and mental negative thoughts and environment (Baker, 2021). The
wellbeing. Research says there are 74% of Indians hustling and buzzing works given by schools, colleges and
suffering from stress; 88% reported anxiety amid Covid- universities during this pandemic can also create various
19. 68.6% of therapists reported the increase in the stress and emotional reactions among students, staff and
number of people they see and, in the hours, they spend many more. During this COVID-19 pandemic the
taking therapy. environment has been challenging such as course overload,
limited work opportunities, financial crisis and many more of

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Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
all of which creates the source of stress and emotional and emotional reactions are too strong and they are too
reactions such as fear, tension and anxiety in many Indian persistent in individuals which is biologically vulnerable to
people (Sinha, Sharma and Nepal 2001). Relationship with the age, and constitutional factors if they have poor coping
family, friends and significant others can also be stressful skills.
(Elizabeth Scott, 2010).
The group or the research unit in this article had shown
Investigators have examined a wide variety of daily life most of the stress and emotional reactions statements. As the
stressors. The interpretation of some of these studies shows impact of stress, emotional reactions might be different
that it is difficult because they include the factors such as among the individuals. The qualitative study of the work
stress which shows its negative impact on emotional reactions stress and emotional reactions has been implemented among
of most of the individuals and extent of the perceived threat. the individuals due to carelessness of not following rules and
Kornberg and Alison (2018) noted that the stress and regulations. The continuous presence of these variables might
emotional reactions are interdependent on each other. As it alter the body and aspects of nervous system. But it is obvious
mainly depends on the face of a changing environment. Stress that most of the individuals are unaware of the importance
can affect anything which causes a change in the homeostasis and effectiveness of coping techniques during this COVID-
of an individual. Folk man and Cannon (2019) said most of 19 due to stress and emotional reactions. There was the
the reality situations depend on the individual’s emotional longitudinal study where the stress and emotional reactions
reactions towards the intensity of their behavior and might level were measured and have been provided with proper
show the controllability of stressor. To some situations it also treatment and guidance or any other coping strategies in order
features the cognitive responses according to individual’s to reduce stress and emotional reactions among the
appraisals. Life events such as anger, anxiety, fear and many individuals.
such things are major dependent/ associated with person’s
behavior. Garmezy and Johnson (2019) stated in contrast to This figure shows the independent and dependent
stress and emotional reactions during any negative situation variable of the study. The independent variable is the stress
and over thinking about this situation can lead to the disease and the dependent variable is the emotional reactions among
and might decrease one’s confidence level. Because stress Indians.

EMOTIONAL
REACTIONS AMONG
LEVEL OF STRESS
INDIANS

Fig. 1: The schematic diagram of the level of stress in relation to the emotional reactions due to COVID-19 among Indians

IV. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS V. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study aimed to determine the relationship between The study will benefit the following:
the stress and emotional reactions among Indians. These  Respondents: This study aims to give relevant information
include different aged groups of Indian people, ages 18 years about the stress and emotional reactions in India. This will
and above. Researcher’s limit their study all over India benefit the participants, people as well as students in India.
specifically in universities where the survey will be Since they are the ones who experience stress and
conducted at the respondents own respected room using the emotional reactions due to the covid-19 pandemic. And to
like type of questionnaire. be aware of the stress and its impact on the emotional
reactions.
Researchers understand the level of stress and  Educational Institutions: this study aims to give relevant
emotional reactions among different Indians. Therefore the information about the stress and emotional reactions
study focuses on the 60 respondents from different concerning educational institutions. By giving relevant
universities. The limitation of this study is the type of information about the individual’s behavior how he/she
sampling being used which is probability sampling technique. behave or react, which shows the impact on physically and
mentally.
The researcher also includes ethical consideration such
as giving informed consent before conducting the survey.  Family and friends: This study promotes the knowledge
Due to the sensitivity of the topic, names of the respondents to the family as well as the friends about the stress and
were not included and information that has been gathered will emotional reactions experienced by their loved ones and
not be divulged to others without permission. helps them to understand better.
 Teachers: This study helps to understand their students
about the problems faced by them and be aware to know
the level of stress and emotional reactions.
 Future researchers: This research may encourage further
investigation and serve as data to make future researchers
significant in measuring the level of stress and emotional
reactions.

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Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
VI. METHODOLOGY between stress and emotional reactions among the
respondents. This method is used to correlate with two or
This chapter describes the study’s research design, more number of variables to see if it exists, rather it cannot
research locale, population and sample, research instrument, cause and affect the relationships.
data collection, ethical considerations and statistical tool.
This study will be conducted through an online survey
VII. RESEARCH DESIGN such as Google Forms. This study is conducted to measure
the impact of stress and emotional reactions due to the
This study will use a quantitative research method COVID-19 pandemic. It is mainly grouped under the
specifically, the descriptive correlation method wherein province by the India statistic authority.
findings were expressed numerically. The descriptive
correlation will be used to determine if there is a correlation

VIII. POPULATION AND SAMPLE each item can be indicated by marking a checkmark in the
bracket given against each statement. The objective of this
The respondents of this study will be 80 respondents scale is to measure the stress among the respondents during
from all over India, age 18 years and above. A stratified this pandemic (COVID-19). It contains 10 items and each
sampling technique is used to determine the respondents. The item had a scale to determine if the respondent strongly agree,
probability sampling technique involves the division of a agree, disagree, strongly disagree with the statements.
population into smaller groups or strata. In this study, there is
a population of 150 from which randomly 80 respondents will The researchers also used a modified scale to measure
be picked up through probability sampling technique the level of emotional reactions (1.00-3.50) among the
respondents. The scale is composed of 8 statements and each
IX. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT item has a scale to determine if the respondent strongly
disagrees, strongly agrees, disagree, or agrees to the
The researchers will use an instrument adapted from the statements. The answers of the respondents according to what
Academic Stress scale (1.00- 3.50). This scale consists of 10 he/she believes in were rated by using the Likert scale.
items describing the stress among the respondent’s life due to
the COVID-19 pandemic. The level of stress they feel for

Scale Range of mean scores Description Interpretation

4 3.50-4.00 Strongly agree Very high level of stress/very low level of emotional reactions
3 2.50-3.49 Agree High level of stress/ low level of emotional reactions
2 1.50-2.49 Disagree Low level of stress/ high level of emotional reactions
1 1.00-1.49 Strongly disagree Very low level of stress/ very high level of emotional reactions

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Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
X. ETHICAL CONSIDERATION researcher has not disclosed the identities of the subject at
any time. Only the main proponent of the study is
In the course of the research, the researcher will be considered as the actual contact information of the subjects.
taking the specific measure. The conduct will be observed by The data obtained during the study under the researcher,
the ethical guidelines. guidance. And counseling department, and have kept in
confidentiality until deemed necessary to do so. The raw
 Rights and dignity of participants: The researchers will data available in both hard and soft copy, and have been
be respecting the right, safeguarding the dignity and accessed only by the researcher and mentor for data
protecting the welfare of research participants through analysis.
cultural sensitivity, responsiveness to their needs, the desire
to withdraw from participating in the research activity by  Debriefing: The researchers would endure that after data
respecting international humanitarian law and by ensuring collection, participants are informed about the full aims of
that the participant’s rights are protected throughout the the research. Ideally, they should also have access to any
conduct of the research. publication arising from the study they took part in.

 Informed consent: A written consent will be obtained  Right to Withdraw: The researcher ensures that
from the participants who were minors. They are asked to participants can feel free to withdraw from participation in
write consent together with his/her legal guardian of legal the study without fear of penalized.
age. In the process, the researcher shall ensure. Those
participants have information and understanding of the  Plagiarism: The researchers have presented another
purpose of the research, its expected duration, and researcher's work as her own, even if the other work or data
procedures. Similarly, they were informed of their right to source is cited occasionally.
decline to participants and to withdraw from the research.
Once the research activity began the researcher may also  Storage of Data: The raw data and analysis from this study
provide an opportunity for the prospective participants to have been stored for up to five years in a safe place that can
ask questions and receive answers. be accessed only by the researcher and guidance
department.
 Confidentiality and privacy: The researcher had a
primary obligation and took reasonable precautions to As a guide the interpretation of the coefficient-specific
protect confidential information obtained through or stored ranges of r corresponding to various interpretations.
in any medium, in the conduct of this research; the

Absolute value Interpretation

of r (degree of correlation)
0.9 to 1.0 Very high
0.7 to 0.9 High
0.4 to 0.7 Moderate
0.2 to 0.4 Small
Less than 0.2 Negligible

XI. RESULT

Table 1: Level of Stress among Indians due to covid-19 pandemic

Mean Standard Deviation Description Interpretation
Stress 2.40 .395 Strongly Agree Very high level of stress/very low
level of emotional reactions.

Table 1 shows the mean, standard deviation, description, and verbal interpretation of the level of stress due to the covid-19
pandemic among corresponding respondents. It can be seen from the table that the respondents have a high level of stress
(mean=2.40, standard deviation =0.395).

Table 2: Emotional reactions among Indians due to covid-19 pandemic

Mean Standard Deviation Description Interpretation
Emotional reactions 2.55 0.481 Agree High level of stress/ low level of emotional
reactions.

Table 2 shows the mean, standard deviation, Of the 80 respondents, 60% indicated the increase of
description, and verbal interpretation of emotional reactions stress and anxiety due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Multiple
among Indians. It can be seen from the table that the stressors were identified that contributed to the increased
respondents have a high level of stress/ low level of emotional level of stress and its effect on emotions. These included fear
reactions (mean= 2.55, standard deviation of Indian and worry about their mental health and of their loved ones
psychology students = 0.481) (60/80, 60% reported negative impacts of the pandemic),
difficulty in concentrating, disruptions to sleeping patterns,

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Volume 7, Issue 2, February 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
decreased social interactions due to physical distancing, and environmental, social and health problems all play a specific
decreased concerns on academic performance. To cope with role in the development of stress. Teaching techniques and
stress, anxiety, participants have sought to sort concerns from the college environment should be adapted to the needs of
others and seek help from others and help themselves by students. The production utilization of existing student
adopting a positive attitude coping mechanism. welfare systems, development of a more “student-friendly”
environment, and regular periodic extracurricular activities
XII. CONCLUSION & DISCUSSION with universal participation can prove to be useful stress-
busters. Due to the long-lasting pandemic situation and
In this study, we examined emotional responses to the onerous measures such s lockdown and stay in home orders,
potential threat of the Covid19 pandemic. Since most people the Covid-19 pandemic brings negative impacts on higher
in this situation have changed their specific behaviors and education. The findings of our study highlight the urgent need
habits, the second objective was to examine the contribution to develop interventions and preventive strategies to address
of basic personality traits and new habits, developed during the mental health of students.
the pandemic, to emotional reactions. Among the effects of
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