Examining the relationship between international students' spiritual resources, general belonging and stress levels

The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between spiritual resources and sense of belonging and stress levels of undergraduate and graduate international students studying in Istanbul. The research is a correlational research model, which is one of the quantitative research methods. The sample of the research consists of 245 international students studying in Istanbul. Personal Information Form, Spirituality Scale, General Belonging Scale, Perceived Stress Scale were used as data collection tools in the research. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS 27.0 package software. According to the findings of the research, it was determined that the perceived stress levels of international students were negatively and significantly related to belonging and spiritual resources. In addition, it was concluded that the perceived stress levels of international students were negatively and significantly predicted by spiritual resources. Findings were obtained that spiritual resources, belonging and perceived stress levels showed significant differences in terms of socio-demographic variables. While it was found that spiritual resources showed significant differences according to class and income level, no significant difference was found in terms of gender. Belongingness scores did not show significant differences according to socio-demographic variables. However, it was concluded that perceived stress levels were significantly higher in female students According to the findings of the hierarchical regression analysis, it was determined that the participants' perceived stress levels were negatively and significantly predicted by general belongingness by 13.9%. The contribution of the total variable of the Spirituality Scale is not significant and the variance is 0.3%. In total, belongingness and spiritual resources together predict stress levels by 14.2%, but this rate is due to the belongingness variable. In line with the findings, it is thought that belongingness may have a protective effect on perceived stress. The findings were evaluated by comparing them with previous studies; suggestions for further research and applications were presented.