Examination of self compassion levels of engineering faculty students with regard to perceived parental attitudes

In this research, it is aimed to analyse the relationship between perceived parental attitudes and the self-compassion levels of engineering students in university. Descriptive method is used in this research. Sample of this research is composed of 309 students, 121 of them are females and 188 are males, in Istanbul Technical University during the 2016/2017 fall semester. Data of this research is obtained via parental attitudes scale developed by Eldeklioğlu (1996), self -compassion scale developed by Akın, Akın, Abacı (2007) and the demographic information form prepared by the researcher. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) is used for the statistical analysis of collected data. Methods such as "Independent Sample T Test", ANOVA and "Pearson Correlation Analysis" are used in the analysis. As a result of the analyses it has been found that there is a relationship between self-compassion/sub-dimensions of self-compassion and the perceived parental attitudes. As a result of the independent sample t test analysis, difference between the average self–compassion points in terms of perceived mother attitudes has been found significant [t(1-303)=2,907; p<0,05]. Average self-compassion point ((x ̅=65,20) of the participants who perceive their mother attitude as democratic is significantly higher than the average self-compassion point (x ̅=58,26) of the participants who perceive their mother attitude as protective. Differences between average points obtained from the other subscales in terms of perceived mother attitude has not been significant. Difference between the average self –compassion points in terms of perceived father attitudes has been found significant [t(1-302)=3,977; p<0,05]. Average self-compassion point (x ̅=66,34) of the participants who perceive their father attitude as democratic is significantly higher than the average self-compassion point (x ̅=57,27) of the participants who perceive their father attitude as protective. Findings of the research have been discussed under the light of literature and the suggestions have been accordingly. Keywords: Self-compassion, parental attitudes, perceived parental attitude.