Psychological resilience and religious attitude in predicting depression level of Syrian adolescents

Due to the civil war in Syria, millions of people had to migrate to other countries. Those under the age of 18 are among those most affected by this negative situation. In this thesis, the relationship between depression, resilience and religious attitude is discussed. In this context, the main purpose of the research is to determine whether religious attitudes and psychological resilience predict the depression level of Syrian adolescents and to analyze the depression, resilience and religious attitude levels of Syrian and Turkish samples from two different cultures by comparing them. In this respect, the research is important in that it deals with a current issue whose effects are still felt, and examines the spiritual difficulties and spiritual dimension of the individual while dealing with it. In the study, 193 female and 135 male Turkish and Syrian adolescents aged 13-18 living in Elazig were reached. Syrian adolescents were considered as the experimental group and Turkish adolescents as the control group. Personal Information Form, Beck Depression Inventory II, Child and Adolescent Resilience Scale (CARS-12) and Religious Attitude Scale were administered to the participants. Quantitative research techniques were used in the study. As a result of the analysis, a negative and significant relationship was found between depression and resilience levels of Syrian adolescents, a negative and significant relationship between depression and religious attitude levels, and a positive and significant relationship between psychological resilience and religious attitude levels. The results of the research show that age, religious attitude and psychological resilience explain approximately 20% of the total variance in the level of depression in Syrian adolescents. In addition, research findings were discussed in the light of the relevant literature and suggestions were made.