Psychological flexibility and meaning of life in university students

The purpose of this research is to determine the relationship between psychological flexibility and the meaning of life in university students and to examine the levels of psychological flexibility according to gender, field of study, perceived socio-economic status, relationship status, and duration of romantic relationship variables. The research model is the correlational survey model. The sample of this research consists of students studying at Sakarya University Faculty of Education. The age range of the study group was 17-45 years and consisted of 387 people in total, 328 (84.8%) of whom were female and 59 (15.2%) of whom were male. A Personal Information Form was used to collect data related to demographic characteristics in the research, the Psychological Flexibility Scale was used to measure the level of psychological flexibility, and the Meaning in Life Scale was used to measure the levels of meaning in life. A suitable statistical program for social sciences was used for data analysis. Pearson Correlation Analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between the sub-dimensions of psychological flexibility and the meaning of life in university students (existing meaning and search of meaning). The level of prediction of psychological flexibility by the existing meaning and the meaning tried to be found in university students was determined by Hierarchical Regression Analysis. The statistical significance of differences in psychological flexibility scores according to gender and relationship status was analyzed using the Independent Samples t-Test. Whether there were statistically significant differences in psychological flexibility scores according to the field of study, perceived socio-economic status, and duration of romantic relationship variables was determined by One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and the Bonferroni Test was used to identify differences in which groups. As a result of the data analysis, a moderate and positive relationship was found between psychological flexibility and existing meaning. In contrast, a low and negative relationship was found between psychological flexibility and sought meaning. Furthermore, when examining the predictive level of the sub-dimensions of meaning in life on psychological flexibility, it was observed that existing meaning positively affected psychological flexibility. In contrast, sought meaning had a negative effect. According to the data obtained from demographic variables, the level of psychological flexibility shows a significant difference according to gender, with psychological flexibility being higher in males compared to females in university students. There was no significant difference in the level of psychological flexibility according to the field of study variable. The level of psychological flexibility was found to be higher in socio-economic status groups perceived as high and moderate compared to those perceived as low. It was determined that the level of psychological flexibility was higher in individuals with a romantic relationship. When psychological flexibility was analyzed according to the duration of the romantic relationship, it was found that the psychological flexibility levels of those who had a relationship of 6-12 months were higher than those who did not have a romantic relationship. Keywords: Psychological flexibility, Meaning of life, Existing meaning, Search of meaning