Existential Anxiety and Academic Self-Determination Among Senior High School Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

Jo Augustine   Corpuz ,

Existential Anxiety and Academic Self-Determination Among Senior High School Students During Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract:

At the heart of this COVID-19 pandemic lies the students’ inner being and their weaving through these given trials. This study aimed to explore the students’ levels of existential anxiety and their academic self-determination. To test the relationship of these two variables, descriptive correlational method was employed. Respondents of the study were 169 senior high school students in a private school in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. Results showed that students’ experience in existential anxiety significantly differed in terms of sex, where females showed to be more affected than males, though its levels appeared to be mild. It also transpired that their level of academic selfdetermination was high which differed across their type of family, indicating that students who were in a nuclear family tended to experience more psychological needs satisfaction compared to others. Apparently, no significant relationship was revealed between their levels of existential anxiety and academic self-determination during this crisis. Hence, the seemingly unrelenting harsh occurrences that this COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the lives of the students have moderately risen certain anxiousness to their beings. It further moderately increased the students’ awareness of their vulnerability to be nonexistent, which simultaneously caused them to ponder more about their fate and reflect on the quality of the way they live.