Dysfunctional Attitudes in Post-COVID Relationships: Pakistan-Malaysia Comparison

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly influenced psychological adjustment and intimate relationships across the globe, with Pakistan and Malaysia presenting unique cultural backdrops for understanding these changes. This quantitative, literature-based study investigates the prevalence and impact of dysfunctional attitudes—such as perfectionism, approval-seeking, and dependency—on relationship satisfaction in post-pandemic populations from both countries. Drawing on recent cross-sectional survey research utilizing the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS-24) and standardized relationship satisfaction indices, our review reveals that both societies experienced significant increases in maladaptive beliefs and declines in relationship quality. Pakistani samples tend to display higher levels of perfectionism and approval-seeking, linked to collective societal and family norms, while Malaysian adults are more prone to dependency-related attitudes shaped by cultural expectations for harmony and emotional support. The results highlight the central role of cognitive vulnerabilities in relationship outcomes after major societal stressors and underscore the urgent need for culturally sensitive counseling, psychoeducation, and public mental health strategies. This synthesis not only adds to cross-cultural psychological literature but also suggests directions for tailored interventions and future empirical research on relationship and cognitive resilience in the post-COVID era.