A Qualitative Research on Genders in Crisis: Young Adults’ Perspective and Experiences towards the COVID-19

Abstract

As disaster occurs and impacts humanity negatively, issues like community-related risks for mental health, challenges within families and more will start to rise. People tend to lose jobs, businesses, places to live, or even family members. The government of Malaysia declared a Movement Control Order (MCO) in order to regulate viral replication and smooth the pandemic curve caused by COVID-19. Therefore, qualitative research about what the young adults of Malaysia perceive and experience in the COVID-19 situation has been conducted. Twelve individuals who have undergone MCO participated in the online interview. Results indicated that more than half of the participants experienced negative emotions and reacted badly to the whole situation. Furthermore, it shows that they have lower levels of resilience in coping as they have zero crisis planning beforehand. However, young adults have done activities and hobbies to regulate their emotions during the period. Unfortunately, the extension of MCO has made young adults feel even more helpless and alienated. Consequently, most of them developed covid fatigue. The results suggest that young adults should have a plan for crisis situations in the future to ensure that they are well-equipped to protect themselves and their families.