Examining the relationship between psychological resilience, cognitive flexibility and emotional autonomy in adolescents

ABSTRACT INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADOLESCENTS' PSYCHOLOGICAL RESILIENCE LEVELS AND COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY AND EMOTIONAL AUTONOMY KARATAŞ, Merve Master's Degree, Educational Sciences Thesis Advisor: Prof. Dr. Mustafa USLU June, 2024 71 page Although life contains many beauties, it also includes many difficult life events. While the same difficulty creates trauma in some individuals, it can be seen as an obstacle to be overcome and easily left behind in others. Despite these difficulties, a person can reveal his/her potential. This research is aimed at finding the sources of differences in the way an individual responds to difficult life events he/she is exposed to. This situation is associated with the concept of psychological resilience in the literature. Therefore, the aim of the current thesis study is, first of all, to examine the relationship between cognitive flexibility, emotional autonomy and psychological resilience in adolescents. The population of the research consists of adolescent students in public secondary and high schools in Antalya in the 2023-2024 academic year. The study group of the research consists of students from fifth to twelfth grades who continue their education in the 2023-2024 academic year in Konyaaltı, Kepez and Döşemealtı, which are the central districts of Antalya. When determining the study group, different school types were selected to diversify the sample. Among these school types, there are four secondary schools, one private, one village, one imam hatip and one normal secondary school, as well as seven high school types (imam hatip high school, health vocational high school, science-social project high school, tourism vocational high school, Anatolian high school, social sciences high school, science high school) is available. Data was collected from 600 participants studying in high school and secondary school. By extracting the data of 150 participants who responded in a certain pattern and did not respond to most of the scale items, a data set was created with 450 participants and the analysis process was carried out. Of the 450 participants in the study group, 206 were female and 244 were male. The age range of the participants varies between 10-18. Personal Information Form, Brief Psychological Resilience Scale, Cognitive Flexibility Scale and Emotional Autonomy Scale were used as data collection tools in the study. Jamovi (2023) program was used to evaluate the normality assumption and carry out the analysis process. According to the results obtained from the research, when the psychological resilience, cognitive flexibility and emotional autonomy scales were examined separately whether there was a difference according to the gender variable, it was seen that the students' scores differed significantly according to gender. It was found that male students' psychological resilience scores were significantly higher than female students. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to determine whether psychological resilience scores could be predicted by emotional autonomy and cognitive flexibility scores. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that emotional autonomy and cognitive flexibility were significant predictors of psychological resilience. Key Words: Adolescence, psychological resilience, cognitive flexibility, emotional autonomy