Investigation of the relationship between the professional anxiety levels and the perceived social support of social studies teacher candidates

This research was conducted to examine the explanation between social studies teacher candidates' professional anxiety and perceived social support. 142 social studies teacher candidates from Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Faculty of Education Department of Social Studies Teaching participated in the research. In this study, descriptive survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used. To collect the necessary data for the study; The "Vocational Anxiety Scale for Pre-service Teachers" (ÖAYMKÖ) prepared by Cabı and Yalçınalp (2013) was applied. Again, Zimet et al. (1988) "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support" (MSPSS) was used. Eker, Arkar and Yaldız (2001) conducted a validity and reliability study of this scale in Turkey. As a result of the analysis, when the occupational anxiety levels of social studies teacher candidates were examined according to their gender, it was determined that the anxiety levels of male teacher candidates were higher than female teacher candidates in all subscales. When the professional anxiety levels of the social studies teacher candidates were examined according to their grade levels, it was determined that the anxiety levels of the social studies teacher candidates were higher than the other grade levels. Considering the multidimensional social support perceived by the pre-service teachers according to their gender, there was a difference only in the sub-dimension of family support, while there was no difference in the sub-dimensions of friend and special person.When the levels of multidimensional social support perceived by the pre-service teachers according to their grade levels were examined, a significant difference was found in the levels of multidimensional social support perceived by the 3rd and 4th grade social studies teacher candidates. While there was no relationship between the professional anxiety levels of social studies teacher candidates and multidimensional perceived social support, a positive significant relationship was found between all sub-levels of professional anxiety and all sub-levels of multidimensional perceived social support. Keywords: Social studies, Teacher candidates, Social support, Occupational anxiety