Examining belonging, motivation and occupational performance in young adults with formerly incarcerated parents

Research has shown that imprisonment has various negative effects not only on of-fenders but also on their families and society. It is known that those most affected by these effects are the children of incarcerated individuals. The incarceration of a parent can lead to acute and chronic stress, separation from the parent, changes in lifestyle, isolation, and social stigmatization, causing emotional, psychological, and social diffi-culties for children. Additionally, the feelings of shame and embarrassment resulting from a parent's incarceration can negatively impact young individuals' sense of belong-ing and lead them to withdraw from social life. Belonging is an extremely important social factor for young adults. At the same time, this feeling plays a protective role in terms of adapting to the transition to adulthood, coping with stress, and increasing overall life success. There is extensive social science and psychology literature on the importance of the need for belonging and the psychological, emotional, behavioral, and physical consequences of meeting this need. However, in the international literature, belonging is addressed only to a limited extent in relation to disadvantaged individuals. The aim of this study is to examine the level of belonging among young adults with formerly incarcerated parents, the factors that may influence this level, and the relation-ship between belonging and motivation and occupational performance. A form was prepared for the sociodemographic information of the participants. Their sense of belonging was assessed using the General Sense of Belonging Scale, their motivation levels were assessed using the Adult Motivation Scale, and their occupa-tional performance was assessed using the Canadian Occupational Performance Meas-ure. The questionnaires were distributed to the participants through lawyers and via the Facebook application. The Shapiro-Wilk test was applied to determine the normality of the data distribution, and skewness and kurtosis coefficients were also examined. For data showing a normal distribution, an independent samples t-test was used to compare two independent groups, and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare more than two independent groups. Post-hoc analyses were performed to determine the source of the difference. In cases where the group size was 10 or less, nonparametric tests were preferred regardless of whether the distribution was normal. For data that did not show a normal distribution, the Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare two independent groups, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare more than two groups. The relationships between the general sense of belonging and motivation, occupational performance, and satisfaction with performance were ana-lyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. A total of 87 people participated in the study. According to the findings, a significant relationship was found between spiritual or religious belief and the level of acceptance among sociodemographic factors (p < 0.05). In the inter-scale correlation analysis, a significant relationship was found between the general sense of belonging and the level of intrinsic motivation (r = 0.319; p < 0.01). A moderate, positive, and significant rela-tionship was observed between the level of acceptance and the sense of belonging (r = 0.433; p < 0.01). A weak, positive, and significant relationship was found between the general level of belonging and the level of occupational performance (r = 0.307; p < 0.01). There was also a weak, positive, and significant relationship between occupa-tional performance level and acceptance level (r = 0.387; p < 0.01). Additionally, weak, positive, and significant relationships were found between general sense of belonging and satisfaction with occupational performance. This study fills an important gap in the literature by revealing the relationships between belonging, motivation, and occupational performance in young adults with formerly incarcerated parents. The findings are particularly noteworthy in that they demonstrate the positive relationship between belonging and intrinsic motivation and occupational performance. Furthermore, the significant relationship between spiritual beliefs and the level of acceptance highlights the need for these individuals to have social and psycho-logical support mechanisms. These results provide an important foundation for future research aimed at understanding the multidimensional effects of belonging in disadvan-taged groups. In this context, there is a need for new studies examining the effects of belonging-based interventions on occupational performance and satisfaction. Until the causal relationships are clarified, these relationships can be considered in occupational therapy interventions conducted in this population. Furthermore, the effect of having spiritual beliefs on belonging can be examined in detail in different studies. Keywords: Formerly incarcerated, belonging, motivation, occupational performance