The Relationship between Social Anxiety and Mindfulness In Iraqi Women Living In Iraq And The UK; A Comparison Study

Abstract

The continuous pressure of work and daily life and the increasing financial and social stress that Iraqi women are experiencing (both inside and outside Iraq) is one of the main causes of anxiety, particularly in those of working class women. This group of women carry the burden of carrying out multiple roles and responsibilities at the same time. All this collectively make them more prone to developing anxiety compared to men. In addition, the physiological and psychological nature of women, as females, on top of the other roles in life, like being a wife or mother or daughter or sister, all add extra pressure on women especially for those who are considered as productive working individuals in the society. In order to study the relationship between these two variables (social anxiety and mindfulness) Sarson Scale for Social Anxiety (translated and modified by Radwan 1988, and consisted of 29 questions) was used. The Toronto Scale for mindfulness (translated by Riyad Al-Alsamy and consisted of 30 questions) was also used. Both scales were applied on two groups of Iraqi women with a total of 100 (50 of them lived in Iraq and 50 in the UK). The result was that both groups had social anxiety but more prominent/severe in married women and who lived inside Iraq. Also, both groups had mindfulness but more in those lived in the UK, with no significant differences between married and unmarried women. And finally, no significant differences were found between the two variables, i.e. no significant relationship was found.