An investigation of students’ life satisfaction and loneliness level in a sample of Turkish students

Abstract

This study investigated the correlation between the life satisfaction and loneliness levels of students of Faculty of Education with respected to age and gender variables. The participants are students at the Educational Faculty of Çukurova University in Adana/Turkey. The sample consists of 422 students, 223 female and 199 male. Their life satisfaction and loneliness levels were measured by the "UCLA Loneliness Scale" and "Life Satisfaction Scale", also "Personal Information Form" is used to gather personal information. To analyze data, t-test, one-way ANOVA, stepwise regression and correlation statistical techniques are used. The research findings show that the male students' loneliness level is higher than the female students' loneliness level. There is no significant difference found between male and female students' life satisfaction. Beside, the correlation between age and loneliness level shows that, loneliness level is increased with the increase of age. However, there is a negative correlation between life satisfaction and loneliness level. Based on research findings, researchers suggest that the psychological counseling and guidance services of university must be functionalized and improved to increase students' life satisfaction and to decrease loneliness level.