ICP 2020+ B

Family Functioning and Mental Health Among Turkish University Students

Asil Ali Özdoğru and Melahat Özge Şimşek

OBJECTIVE: Interactions between family members are quite important for individuals’ mental health characteristics. Family adaptation and cohesion were found to promote positive mental health outcomes. On the other hand, problematic family relationships can lead to emotional and behavioral problems among family members. This study aims to explore the relationships between family functioning and mental health conditions of Turkish university students. METHODS: The participants of the study were 263 psychology undergraduate students (33 males and 230 females) at a foundation university in İstanbul. Students completed Turkish versions of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (FACES-IV) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). FACES-IV is a 42-item measure that assesses adaptability and cohesion dimensions of family dynamics on a 5-point Likert scale that include six subscales of balanced cohesion, balanced flexibility, disengaged, enmeshed, rigid, and chaotic. SDQ is a 25-item scale that assesses broad strengths and weaknesses regarding emotional and interpersonal adjustment on a 3 point Likert scale that include subscales of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems, prosocial behavior, and also a total difficulty score. RESULTS: Correlation analyses showed that there were statistically significant relationships between FACES-IV and SDQ subscale scores. SDQ difficulty scores were negatively correlated with cohesion, flexibility, communication, and satisfaction but positively correlated with disengagement, rigidity, and chaotic. SDQ prosocial behavior scores were positively correlated with cohesion, flexibility, communication, and satisfaction but negatively correlated with disengagement and chaotic. CONCLUSIONS: Findings showed that family functioning has a meaningful relationship with mental health characteristics of Turkish university students. Mental health was positively related to family cohesion, flexibility, communication, and satisfaction, on the other hand, had a negative relationship with disengaged, rigid, and chaotic family functioning. These results add support to earlier findings on the relationship between family interactions and mental health and offer new questions for future studies.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., & Şimşek, M. Ö. (2023). Family functioning and mental health among Turkish university students [Conference presentation abstract]. International Journal of Psychology, 58(S1), 513. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.13020

ICP 2020+ A

Multicultural Attitudes of Turkish Teachers and Their Attitudes Towards Refugee Students

Asil Ali Özdoğru, Fatma Nur Dolu, Ayşenur Akan, and Sena Aldemir

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between teachers’ multicultural attitudes, their attitudes towards refugee students, and sociodemographic characteristics of teachers. Methods: The participants of this study consisted of 135 teachers working in different educational levels in Turkey that were reached through snowball sampling. Ages of the participants ranged from 23 to 62 (M=38.70, SD=7.97) and 55 of them were female (41%) and 79 male (59%). Participants completed an online survey including demographic questions, the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey (TMAS), and the Refugee Student Attitude Scale (RSAS). Results: Correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant correlation between the TMAS and RSAS total scale scores [r(124)= 0.23, p<.05]. TMAS total scores were also significantly correlated with RSAS communication subscale scores [r(125)=0.28, p<.01] and the RSAS competency subscale scores [r(128)=0.18, p<.05]. The scale scores did not differ significantly for the variables of gender, traveling abroad, multicultural experience, presence of refugee students in the class, and professional training about refugees. However, there was a significant effect of city size on teachers’ TMAS scores [F(3, 127)=4.09, p<.05]. Teachers who have spent most of their lives in a metropolis (M=73.89, SD=9.73) had higher TMAS scores than those have lived in cities (M=78.21, SD=6.03). Conclusions: There was a positive relationship between teachers’ multicultural attitudes and their attitudes towards refugee students. Teachers who had higher levels of multiculturalism had more positive attitudes in communication and competency with refugee students as well as overall attitudes toward refugee students. Multiculturalism was also found to be positively influenced by living in a metropolis. Implementations and policies that aim to improve teachers’ attitudes towards refugee students should support teachers’ multicultural attitudes.

Citation: Özdoğru, A. A., Dolu, F. N., Akan, A., & Aldemir, S. (2023). Multicultural attitudes of Turkish teachers and their attitudes towards refugee students [Conference presentation abstract]. International Journal of Psychology, 58(S1), 315. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.13001