title: Why not the best? Social anxiety symptoms and perfectionism among Israeli Jews and Arabs: a comparative Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) has been repeatedly shown to be very prevalent in the Western society and is characterized by low self-esteem, pessimism, procrastination and also perfectionism. Very few studies on SAD have been done in the Middle East or in Arab countries, and no study tackled the relationship between social anxiety symptoms and perfectionism in non-Western samples.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined social anxiety symptoms and perfectionism in a group of 132 Israeli Jewish (IJ) and Israeli Arab (IA) students. Subjects completed the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), the Negative Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ-N), the Positive Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ-P) and a socio-demographic questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The rate of SAD in our sample according to a LSAS score of 60 or more was 17.2% (IJ=13.8%, IA=19%, ns). The correlation between perfectionism and the LSAS was high in both groups, and in particular in the IJ group. The IA group had higher scores of social avoidance, of ATQ-P and of two of the MPS subscales: parental expectations and parental criticism. Concern over mistakes and negative automatic thoughts positively predicted social fear in the IJ group, whereas in the IA group being female, religious and less educated positively predicted social fear. Negative automatic thoughts and age positively predicted social avoidance in the IJ group. In general, the IJ and IA subjects showed higher social anxiety, higher ATQ-N scores and lower parental expectations as compared with non-clinical US samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Social anxiety symptoms and perfectionism are prevalent in Arab and Jewish students in Israel and seem to be closely related. Further studies among non-western minority groups may detect cultural influences on social anxiety and might add to the growing body of knowledge on this intriguing condition.
authors.affiliation: Yavne Mental Health Clinic, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University Israel. Electronic address: iulian1@bezeqint.net.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Iancu
authors.affiliation: The Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bodner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and the Center for Psychobiological Research, The Yzreel Valley College, Emek Yzreel, Israel.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joubran
authors.affiliation: Clalit Health Fund, Beer Sheva.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ben Zion
authors.affiliation: Rabin Medical Center-Campus Golda, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ram
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D018912:Arabs / Q000523:psychology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D007585:Jews / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012307:Risk Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult