Investigation of the loneliness and perceived social support levels of physical teachers candidates

This study was conducted to determine the levels of loneliness and perceived social support of physical education teacher candidates. The sample of the study consisted of physical education teacher candidates whom continued their education in the 2015-2016 at different universities. Personal information form, UCLA loneliness scale, multidimensional perceived social support scale was used as data collection tool. In the analysis of the data, besides descriptive statistics, t test for independent groups, one-way variance analysis, Tukey test, pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis were used. In the study, it was seen that the loneliness of the physical education teacher candidates was moderate level. In addition with there was a statistically significant difference observed that between loneliness level and gender, level of class; however, in the variable of housing and number of siblings it was not seen significant differences. Another result obtained from the study was that the physical education teacher candidates' perceived social support levels of was high. While there were significant differences in perceived social support levels according to the level of class and number of siblings there were no significant differences in the levels of perceived social support of physical education teacher candidate according to gender, sports branch and housing status variables. In the study, it was determined that there was a negative relationship between the loneliness levels and the perceived social support levels of physical education teacher candidates. While the level of perceived social support increased, the level of loneliness decreased. In addition, it was seen that physical education teacher candidates' perceived social support level levels were an important and significant predictor on loneliness.