An investigation of the relationship between interpersonal dependency, fear of embarrasment, general belongingness and the need of social aproval in university students

The aim of this study is to investigate the interpersonal dependency level in university students in terms of fear of embarrassment, general belongingness and the need of social approval and basic demographic variables (gender, number of siblings, perceived economic status).The sample of the research consists of 353 students studying at Sakarya University in the 2016-2017 academic years. 230 (65.1%) of the participants were female and 123 (34.9%) were male.In the study, information about the gender, number of siblings and perceived economic status of the university students were collected by Personal Information Form.The data related to the level of interpersonal dependence among university students in the research were collected with the 6-item short form developed by McClintock McCarrick, Anderson, Himawan and Hirschfeld (2015) and it is gathered with Interpersonal Addiction Scale which is adapted in Turkish by Akin, Raba, Rada and Yilmaz (2016). The data related to the fear of embarrassment were collected by Fear of Embarrassment by Others Scale which is developed by Gee, Antony and Koerner (2011) and adapted by Akın, Raba, Rada and Yılmaz (2016). The data on the variance of the general belongingness were collected with the General Belongingness Scale adapted to Turkish by Akın, Raba, Rada, Yılmaz and Rada (2016) developed by Malone, Pillow and Osman, (2012). The data related to the need of social approval were collected by Need of Social Aproval Scale which is developed by Karaşar (2014). Towards the hypothesis of the study, research data's have been analyzed by using correlation analysis, t-test, one track variance analysis and regression analysis. In the analysis of the data of the study, the homogeneity of the variances was examined by Levene Test Analysis. Fear of embarrassment, general belongingness and the need for social approval, the interpersonal dependence variable has been examined by multiple regression analysis.In the results of correlation analysis, there is a statistically meaningful correlation in a positive way among the levels of university students' interpersonal dependence, fear of embarrassment and the need of approval; however it has been seen that there is a negative relation among general belongingness. As a result of regression analysis, it was found that the need for social approval, fear of embarrassment and general belongingness significantly predicted students' interpersonal dependency level. As a result of the t-test, it was found that the interpersonal dependence levels of the university students differed slightly according to gender and that the interpersonal dependence of women was higher than men. As a result of one-way analysis of variance, it was found that interpersonal dependence level to the number of siblings and perceived economic status was not significantly differentiated according. As a result, the findings of this study, the support of literature and similar research results were discussed and were given suggestions to psychological counselors and other researchers who are working in this field. Key words: Interpersonal Dependency, Fear of Embarrassment, General Belongingness, Need for Social Approval.