Life satisfaction, personality, and basic psychological needs in university students

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the mediator role of basic psychological needs' satisfaction in the relationship between personality traits and life satisfaction of university students. Also, the life satisfaction level of university students was examined in terms of gender, income level, academic achievement level, romantic relationship status, number of close friends, perceived religious belief level, and health status. The participants consisted of 499 students from Sakarya University aged between 17-25.In this study Life Satisfaction Scale, Big Five Inventory, Needs Satisfaction Scale and Personal Information Form were used in order to collect data. The mediator role of basic needs' satisfaction in the relationship between personality traits and life satisfaction has been tested by the SEM. Whether university students' life satisfaction varies significantly in terms of gender, romantic relationship status, the number of close friends, health status was analyzed with a t-test for independent samples and in terms of income, academic achievement, perceived religious belief levels was analyzed with one-way ANOVA. SPSS 20.0 and Amos 21.0 were used for statistical analysis. According to the findings the partial mediating role of basic psychological needs' satisfaction was determined in the relationship between extraversion, neuroticism and life satisfaction. The full mediating role of basic psychological needs' satisfaction was determined in the relationship between consientiousness, agreeableness and life satisfaction. Also, it was determined that the life satisfaction of university students varied significantly in terms of gender, levels of income, academic achievement, and perceived religious belief, romantic relationship status, number of close friends.