281 © 2022 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. COMPARISON OF FEAR OF COVID-19, FEAR OF LEAVING HOME, AND ASPECTS OF WORKING ADULTS’ LIFE IN REGARD TO GENDER AND WORKING PLACE Hazalizah Hamzah 1+ Asma Perveen 2 Fatanah Ramlee 3 Azizah Othman 4 Masyitah Minhad 5 1,2,3 Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia. 1 Email: hazalizah@fpm.upsi.edu.my Tel: +60136137991 2 Email: asmaperveen@fpm.upsi.edu.my Tel +6011-35542399 3 Email: fatanah@fpm.upsi.edu.my Tel: +6019-6152349 4 Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia. 4 Email: azeezah@usm.my Tel: +6019-9555690 5 Ministry of Health, Malaysia. 5 Email: syifa8371@gmail.com Tel: +6019-2293967 (+ Corresponding author) ABSTRACT Article History Received: 19 April 2022 Revised: 24 June 2022 Accepted: 8 July 2022 Published: 1 August 2022 Keywords COVID-19 Pandemic Working adults Gender Working place Fear. This study investigated differences related to fear of COVID-19, fear to leave home and ten aspects of working adults’ life between genders and working places. 455 working adults in Malaysia participated in the online survey through convenience sampling technique. The results showed that the main effect for gender was significant (Wilks’ Λ = 0.88, F(2, 375) = 4.10, p = 0.001, multivariate η2 = 0.12.), indicating that fear of COVID-19, fear of leaving home, and aspects of working adults’ life tests differ for males and females. Moreover, the results showed that the main effect for working place was significant (Wilks’ Λ = 0.94, F(2, 375) = 1.81, p = 0.045, multivariate η2 = 0.06) but the interaction of gender and working place was not significant. Furthermore, individuals working from home reported higher fear to leave home and more severe effect on occupational aspect than those who worked at the workplace. Contribution/ Originality: This study explained how working adults’ life were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic during the second phase of Movement Control Order in Malaysia. Since the pandemic has taken place for more than two years, the recovering process might take a long time. Findings from this study provides directions for employers in looking into the mental health care and well-being issues among workers particularly during the current post-pandemic period. 1. INTRODUCTION Ever since the viral pneumonia cases were reported in Wuhan, panic and anxiety were gradually increasing within the global community. The disease is easily transmitted from person-to-person with less-severe to severe illnesses which unfortunately could cause death. Due to the nature of the disease, COVID-19 was starting to spread at an alarming rate due to international travelling. As a result, the situation was causing anxiety among worldwide community and calling for critical actions by the government to prevent infections and save lives while minimizing the impact in various aspects including the health, economy and education. On March 2020, the number of cases in Malaysia were starting to rise at an alarming rate (Barker, 2020). The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) estimated the cases to increase at a rate of 12.5% per day but the actual increase is 7.5% per day (Latiff, 2020). In order to flatten the curve of infected cases in Malaysia, the government has imposed several types of Movement Control Order (MCO) depending on the spread pattern of the infectious disease at particular areas. International Journal of Asian Social Science ISSN(e): 2224-4441 ISSN(p): 2226-5139 DOI: 10.55493/5007.v12i8.4559 Vol. 12, No. 8, 281-291. © 2022 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved. URL: www.aessweb.com