AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF LEVELS OF LONELINESS AND OPTIMISM AMONG STUDENTS AT THE FACULTY OF SPORTS SCIENCES

The aim of this study is to explore the effects of optimism and loneliness levels of the students at the Faculty of Sports Sciences. For the purposes of data collection, two instruments were used: the ‘UCLA Scale’ which was developed by Russel et al [7] revised by Russel et al [8] and adapted into Turkish by Demir [9]; and the Optimism Scale which was developed by Balcı and Yılmaz [10] in order to explore students’ levels of loneliness and optimism. These questionnaires were administered to a total of 375 students consisting of 224 male and 151 female students. For data analysis, the SPSS statistical packet program was used for frequency analysis, and independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA and Tukey test were run to find out the source of the difference among different groups of participants. In addition, correlation analysis was performed to reveal the relationship between the students’ Levels of Optimism and Loneliness. Significant differences have been seen in the levels of optimism and loneliness among participants according to gender. (p<0,05) According to this, averages of female students are higher than male students in levels of loneliness. In terms of levels of optimism, averages of male student are higher than female students.