Examining the relationship between 7th and 8th grade middle school students' perceived social support and empathy levels

This study aims to determine the relationship between perceived social support and the empathy skills of the 7th and 8th grade middle school students. The sample of the study consisted 323 middle school students (158 female, 165 male) in Bornova, Cigli and Bahattin Tatis Campuses of Izmir Private Turk College. The data was obtained from the participants via Child-Adolescent Social Support Scale (Malecki et al., 1999; Yardımcı & Başbakkal, 2010) and An Index of Empathy for Children and Adolecents (Bryant, 1982; Gürtunca, 2013). Independent samples t-test was applied for determining whether perceived social support and empathy levels of middle school students were significantly different according to gender and number of siblings. Pearson correlation analysis was also applied for determining the correlations between the research variables. The empathy levels of the students were significantly different according to gender. It is founded that the empathy levels of female students were higher than male students. The frequency and importance of the students' perceived support from close friends and the importance of the students' perceived support from their teachers showed a significant difference according to gender. Female students had higher perceived support levels from close friends and teachers than male students. The perceived social support levels of the students showed a significant difference according to the number of siblings. It has been found that students with siblings have a higher perceived support frequency from close friends than students who are only children. According to the results of correlation analysis, it is founded that perceived social support and empathy skills had a positive relationship. Keywords: Perceived social support, empathy, middle school students.