Examining the mediator effects of the psychological symptoms on the relationship between satisfaction with life and happiness

Happiness is when the positive emotional state felt by the individual exceeds the negative emotions felt by the individual. Happiness can also be defined as satisfaction with life in general. Examining the effect of psychological symptoms exhibited by individuals living in different countries on the relationship between life satisfaction and happiness is one of the curious topics in the literature. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of psychological symptoms on the relationship between life satisfaction and happiness levels of Turks living in Turkey and Australia. For this purpose, socio-demographic form, happiness scale, life satisfaction and psychological symptom scales were applied to a sample group of 400 people between the ages of 18-65 in Turkey and Australia via Google forms. The data was transferred to the SPSS 22 program and coded. Independent sample t test, anova test, regression and correlation analyzes were used to analyze the data. At the end of the research, it was determined that the happiness score average of Turks living in Australia was higher than the happiness score average of Turks living in Turkey. It was found that the average scores of General Life Satisfaction, Relationship Satisfaction, Self Satisfaction, Social Environment Satisfaction, and Job Satisfaction of Turks living in Australia were higher than the average scores of Turks living in Turkey. It has been determined that the average scores of somatization, Obsessive Compulsive, Interpersonal sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic anxiety, Paranoid thought, Psychoticism, Additional symptoms of Turks living in Australia are lower than the average scores of Turks living in Turkey. Significant positive relationships were found between happiness and the main and sub-dimensions of life satisfaction. As life satisfaction increases, happiness also increases. There is a significant negative relationship between psychological symptoms and life satisfaction. As life satisfaction increases, psychological symptoms decrease. There is a significant negative relationship between psychological symptoms and happiness. When psychological symptoms increase, happiness decreases. The study also found that the partial mediating effect of psychological symptoms was significant and had a partial mediating effect of 11.7% on the effect of life satisfaction level on happiness levels.