Resilience and Public Speaking Anxiety in the context of COVID-19 in University Students

Abstract

This research explored the correlation between resilience and public speaking anxiety (PSA) among university students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The research examined how resilience counters public speaking anxiety and how resilience varies in various online learning groups in students amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This was conducted through a cross-sectional study design in which 198 university students from Delhi and Noida universities filled self-report resilience and PSA measures. Against expectations, findings indicated a statistically significant though weak positive relationship between resilience and PSA . Findings of regression analysis of the effect of resilience on PSA validated resilience as an important predictor of PSA scores , but with minimal effect size. Paradoxically, learners who had longer exposure to online learning ( more than 2 years) had higher scores for resilience. These findings suggest that resilience and anxiety are not mutually exclusive, and longer exposure to stressors in learning may induce healthy coping mechanisms. The research emphasizes the strength of understanding resilience as an evolving capacity, rather than a persistent trait, and the significance this has for student well-being in face-to-face and online learning environments. Teaching interventions founded on resilience may be more positive strategies for dealing with performance pressure in classrooms than reducing anxiety itself.