Quality of Life and Its Relationship to Social Anxiety among Egyptian and Saudi Female University Students  A Comparative Cultural Study

 Abstract:
 The present study aimed to reveal the relationship of quality of life and its dimensions with social anxiety in two samples of Egyptian and Saudi female university students. The study also focused on examining the differences between the two samples in this relationship, as well as a comparison between them in quality of life, its dimensions and social anxiety. The first sample included students from the Psychology Department at the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, while the second sample included students from the Psychology Department at the Faculty of Education, King Saud University in Riyadh. The number of subjects in each sample was 110 students, the mean age of the first sample (20.44 ± 0.53) years and the second sample (20.59 ± 0.72) years. we used translated version by Ghada El-Khodair (2014) of Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) (Mattick&Clarke,1998), and Quality of University Life Scale prepared by Mahmoud Mansi and Ali Kazim (2006). The study found the negative relationship between total score of quality of life, all its dimensions and social anxiety in both samples, and the study also showed that there were no differences between the two samples in the obtained relationship. The study also found significant differences between the two samples in the dimensions of quality of life, which included public health, education and study, emotions, and mental health, beside the total score of quality of life in the direction of high average scores of Saudi students, while there were no differences between the two samples in the dimensions of family and social life and time management. The study also found significant differences in social anxiety between the two samples, in the direction of high average scores of Egyptian students.