Social Anxiety and its Relationship to Psychological Security Among a Sample of Al-Quds Open University Students

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the social anxiety level and its relationship to psychological security among Al-Quds Open University - Nablus Branch students. Also, it aimed to identify the differences in each of them according to the variables of gender, college and cumulative average, following the descriptive-relational approach and the scale of social anxiety and psychological security. They were implemented on (362) male and female students, representing (5.9%) of the study population. Results showed that the level of social anxiety and its domains were low as the arithmetic mean for psychological stress was (2.28). In fact, the highest domain was “social interaction anxiety” while the lowest domain was “fear of others”. The level of psychological security and its domains was also high as the average psychological security reached (3.87). Also, the domain of “psychological reassurance” came first, while the domain of “social stability” came last.

Hence, there were differences in the areas of social anxiety (difficulty in communication and expression, poor self-confidence, avoidance of embarrassment among the sample members. In fact, the differences were in favor of males in the gender variable as the differences were insufficient to indicate in social anxiety among the sample members attributed to the college variable. Furthermore, there were differences in social anxiety among the sample members attributed to a variable cumulative average. In addition, there were differences in psychological security among the sample members attributed to the variable of gender in favor of males. Nevertheless, the differences were insufficient to indicatein psychological security among the sample members attributed to the variables of college and cumulative average. Hence, there was a reverse correlation between social anxiety and its domains and psychological security and its fields that engagement coefficient reached (-.157). Nevertheless, the strongest relationships were between the difficulty of communication and expression as one of the areas of social anxiety and social appreciation as one of the areas of psychological security. Finally, the results showed that there was a statistically significant effect at the level of significance(α≥0.05) for the domain of social interaction anxiety in a forecasting the level psychological security reaching (02.9%) of the level contrast ratio of psychological security. As for the dimensions of difficulty communicating and expressing, fear of confronting others, low self-confidence, avoid embarrassment; it did not contribute statistically significant to forecasting level of psychological security.