Examining the predictors of subjective and psychological well-being of university students

Ill ABSTRACT EXAMINING THE PREDICTORS OF SUBJECTIVE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS Fulya CENKSEVEN Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Educational Sciences Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Turan AKBAŞ November, 2004, 210 pages In this study, it has been aimed to determine the rate of how university students' subjective and psychological well-being are predicted by their level of extraversion, neurouticism, locus of control, learned resourcefulness, socio-economic status, gender, health situations and satisfaction of social interactions, recreation activities and academic situations. The university students who attended Çukurova University during 2002-2003 academic year was the population of the study. The sample of the study is formed by the students of all faculties at Çukurova University who were chosen with cluster sampling method. The study was conducted with 500 students. 205 of whom were female and 295 of whom were male. "Scales of Psychological Well-Being" were used to determine the level of students' psychological well-being. Similarly; in order to determine their subjective well-being level, both "Positive-Negative Affect Schedule" and "Life Satisfaction Scale" were used. "Scales of Psychological Well-Being" were adapted into Turkish by the researcher of this study. Besides, "Eysenck Personality Questionnaire" was used to find out extraversion and neurouticism wheareas "Rotter Internal-External Control Scale" was used to measure the students' locus of control. "Rosenbaum Learned Resourcefulness Inventory" was used to determine their learned resourcefulness. In order to collect data about the demographic variables a "Personal Information Form" was used. Findings showed that the higher the social status, the higher the rates of "life satisfaction", "subjective well-being", "positive relationship with others", "autonomy", "environmental mastery", "self-acceptance" and "psychological well-being" are.IV Significant gender differences were also evident. According to the external locus of control and learned resourcefulness level of the university students, both subjective well-being with its compenents and pschological well-being with its compenents were significantly different. Findings indicated that people who have a high level of learned resourcefulness and internal locus of control reported to have better subjective and psychological well-being levels. Also, gender and learned resourcefulness interactions influence some dimensions of subjective and psychological well-being. The results of stepwise regression analyses show that the variables, in accordance with their contributions to the total variance, neurouticism, extraversion, percevied satisfaction of academic success, learned resourcefulness, perceived satisfaction of interaction with parents and dates, socio-economic status, gender, perceived health situations, external locus of control, perceived satisfaction of recreation activities were, respectively, significant predictors of subjective well-being. All the variables mentioned explained 63.9 % of the total variance. However, at the end of the analyses, it was found out that the satisfaction with the interaction of friends was not a significant predictor of subjective well-being. As for the results of the stepwise regression analyses, it was found that, in accordance with their contributions to the total variance, the variables of learned resourcefulness, extraversion, neurouticism, perceived satisfaction of the interactions with dates and friends, external locus of control, gender, perceived satisfaction of interactions with parents and recreation activities, respectively, were significant predictors of psychological well-being. It was reported that these variables explained 59 % of the total variance. However, the results of the analyses, reveal that perceived healthiness, socio-economic status and academic achievements did not significantly predict psychological well-being. Key Words: Subjective Weil-Being, Psychological Weil-Being, Life Satisfaction, Positive Affect, Negative Affect, Positive Relationship with Others, Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Personal Growth, Purpose in Life, Self-Acceptance, Extraversion, Neurouticism, Locus of Control, Learned Resourcefulness.