The effect of neighborhood attachment and urban identity of Syrian refugees living in Adana on their psychological well-being

The Syrian crisis, which started in Syria in 2011 and turned into a civil war instead of ending in a short time, caused millions of people to be displaced, hundreds of thousands of people injured and lost their lives. More than 3.7 million people who immigrated shortly after the escalation of the war live under temporary protection status in turkey. The vast majority of Syrians under temporary protection, who exist in 81 provinces of turkey with various population densities, live in urban areas. The aim of the study is to investigate the effects of the commitment to the neighbourhood and urban identity of Syrians living in Adana on their psychological well-being and the factors affecting this. 149 Syrian participants were interviewed in the study. "Socio-Demographic Information Form", "Neighborhood Attachment Scale", "Urban Identity Scale", "Multidimensional Psychological Well-Being Scale-MPWBS" translated into Arabic were used in the research. 73.8% of the participants have been living in Turkey for more than 5 years, 59.1% have been living in Adana for more than 5 years. 37.6% of the participants have been living in the neighborhood they currently live in for more than 5 years and the reason they prefer this neighborhood is because of economic reasons and their acquaintances living in the same neighborhood. It is seen that there is a moderate negative correlation (r= -0.43) between the urban identity scale and commitment to the neighborhood, and as the loyalty to the neighborhood increases, the loyalty to the urban decreases. It is seen that there is a weak negative correlation (r= -0.17) between the urban identity and the MPWBS. It is seen that there is a moderate positive correlation (r= 0.55) between the commitment of the neighborhood and the total score of the MPWBS. Duration of residence in the neighborhood, socio-economic status, density of refugees in the neighborhood, exposure to discrimination, Turkish grammar were determined as factors affecting psychological well-being levels. The results obtained from the study show that as commitment to the neighborhood increases, psychological well-being increases.