The relationship between anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and spiritual well-being in emerging adulthood

The aim of the study is to examine the relationship between the spiritual well-being, anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty levels of university students in the emerging adulthood period. The quantitative research method was adopted in the study and the relational screening model was used. The sample of the study consists of a total of 546 university students, 367 female and 179 male, aged between 18-25. In the data collection process, the survey form created through Google Forms was applied to university students in February 2024. The Personal Information Form, Trait Anxiety Scale (TAS), Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (ITS-12) and Three-Dimensional Spiritual Well-Being Scale (TSWS) were used in the survey, and questions about subjective perception of religiosity and frequency of worship were also added to the survey form. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 25.0 program. According to the findings obtained from the research, when the relationship between demographic variables and trait anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and spiritual well-being was examined, some significant results were obtained. Accordingly, the spiritual well-being, trait anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty levels of female participants were higher than male participants. It was determined that the trait anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty levels of low-income participants were higher than the participants with high income. A positive relationship was found between the spiritual well-being levels of the participants and their subjective perception of religiosity and frequency of worship. As a result of the research, no significant relationship was found between the variables of social environment, education status, class and age and trait anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and spiritual well-being levels. According to another finding obtained from the research, a negative relationship was found between the trait anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty and spiritual well-being levels of university students. It was observed that as the spiritual well-being level of the students increased, the intolerance of uncertainty, anticipatory anxiety, inhibitory anxiety and trait anxiety levels decreased. In addition, in the regression analysis, it was determined that the spiritual well-being of university students negatively predicted their trait anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty, while their anomie level, which is a sub-dimension of spiritual well-being, positively predicted intolerance of uncertainty and its sub-dimensions (anticipatory anxiety and inhibitory anxiety).