Codependency: An Evaluation in Terms of Depression, Need for Social Approval and Self-Love/Self-Efficacy

Purpose : The purpose of the current study is to investigate pre-service teachers’ depression, needs for social approval and self-love/self-efficacy as the predictors of codependency. It is also aimed in this research to compare depression, need for social approval, self-love/self-efficacy and codependency according to various variables. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was conducted on 195 education faculty students (156 females and 39 males) and used the Beck Depression Inventory, the Need for Social Approval Scale, the Spann-Fischer Codependency Scale and the Self-Love/Self-Efficacy Scale to collect data. In the analysis of the collected data, t test, One Way Anova, Pearson Moment-Products Correlation Coefficient and Multiple Regression Analysis were used. Findings: As a result of the analyses, it was found that depression, need for social approval, self-love and self-efficacy variables explain 49% of codependency. Depression was found to be the variable making the greatest contribution. Self-efficacy was found to be not making any contribution to the model. While gender was found to be leading to no significant difference, the analyses taking birth order into consideration revealed that the firstborn has higher self-efficacy compared to the others. Conclusions: This research is important in terms of the variables that predict codependency . The findings of the current study are discussed to shed light for future research on codependency, the need for social approval, depression and self-love/self-efficacy. The results of the current study show that codependency is correlated with depression, the need for social approval, self-love and self-efficacy. Depression, the need for social approval, self-love and self-efficacy were found to explain 49% of the total variance in codependency. It was also found that self-efficacy is higher in the first-born pre-service teachers. One limitation of the current study is that the sample consists of only students attending the education faculty of a university located in the Central Black Sea Region of Turkey. Further research can use samples consisting of pre-service teachers from different education faculties. On the basis of the findings of the current study, more comprehensive research to investigate codependency in pre-service teachers can be conducted. As the research on this issue in the field of education is highly limited, more comprehensive research in the field of education seems to be important. In light of the findings of the current study, the following suggestions can be made:


INTRODUCTION
Codependency means not being able to say no to being influenced by the behaviour of another person and being obsessed with changing the behaviour of the other person. Codependent individuals are those who hold themselves responsible for various situations such as the thoughts, feelings, and needs of other people. Those people who think that they have to help people with problems can make suggestions even when other people do not want. They are very helpful to other people. In addition, these individuals try to suppress their own feelings and thoughts (Beattie, 1996). Dear, Roberts, and Lange (2004) suggested that definitions of codependency have four main characteristics called external focus, self-sacrifice, controlling others, and suppressing individual feelings. Whitfield (2006) stated that codependency occurs when a person starts to suppress his/her emotions and reactions. People support each other in healthy relationships. At the same time, the receiving-giving balance is equal. In unhealthy relationships, the balance of receiving and giving is not equal. Such relationships where personal boundaries are not clear are defined as codependency. Codependent people have difficulties in taking care of themselves, neglect themselves while focusing on others and forget their own needs and feelings. They try to solve the problems of others and meet others' needs so that they themselves can feel good (Septien, 1997).
Codependent people may experience various problems because they ignore their own needs and constantly try to solve other people's problems. One of these problems is depression (Yates and McDaniel, 1994;Tanhan and Mukba, 2014). Depression is a condition in which symptoms such as deep sadness and not being able to enjoy anything are at the forefront. In depression, focusing on deficiencies, being pessimistic and hopeless are widely seen (Kring et al., 2015). When the literature on codependency is reviewed, is seen that there are many studies showing that codependency is related to depression (Carson, 1990;Carson and Baker, 1994;Worth, 1996;Hughes-Hammer, Martsolf and Zeller, 1998;Ashley, 2000;Martsolf, Sedlak and Doheny, 2000;Marks, Blore, Hine and Dear, 2012). Cullen and Carr (1999) found that people with high levels of codependency have more psychological problems. These people suffer from higher levels of anxiety and depression. Hughes-Hammer, Martsolf, and Zeller (1998) found that codependency and depression are strongly correlated and 36% of the women with depression were codependent. Septien (1997) stated that codependent people who try to please others can often have depressive feelings because they are not always able to please others.
One of the characteristics seen in codependent people is low self-esteem (Yates and McDaniel, 1994;Beattie, 1996;Septien, 1997;Tanhan and Mukba, 2014). Rosenberg (1965) explained self-esteem as the people's positive/ negative attitude to himself/herself. Self-esteem has been addressed as a multi-dimensional construct by some researchers. André and Lelord (2019) stated that selfesteem has three components. These elements are self-confidence, self-love and the way one sees oneself. Tafarodi and Swann (1995) also explained self-esteem in two dimensions as self-efficacy and self-love. Self-love is the basis of self-esteem (André and Lelord, 2019). Cullen and Carr (1999) found that those with high levels of codependency have low self-esteem and behave more impulsively. Beattie (1996) stated that codependent people want to be loved by others but they think that they are not worthy of being loved. These people seem to try to please others rather than themselves. Moreover, codependent people feel different from other people, fear rejection, find their own lives worthless, feel ashamed of being themselves, and feel hurt when they do not receive appreciation. There are many studies in the literature showing that there is a relationship between codependency and low self-esteem (Clark and Stoffel, 1992;Springer, Britt and Schlenker, 1998;Wells, Glickauf-Hughes and Jones, 1999;Cullen and Carr, 1999;Chang, 2010;Marks, Blore, Hine and Dear, 2012).
It is seen that codependency is explained through cultural structure. Chang (2010) showed that codependency is associated with interdependent and collectivistic cultures. Pleasing others, one of the indicators of codependency (Septien, 1997), is supported in the Turkish culture. The thoughts of other individuals are considered important in Turkey. In particular, "The concern about what others think" gives direction to behaviours. This situation also seems to be related to the high need for social approval (Karaşar, 2014). The need for social approval is the need to be seen as a good person by others (Chiba, Iketani, Han and Ono, 2009). The need for social approval, which is related to social cohesion and attaching importance to the judgments of others and creating a positive impression, is effective in establishing social ties, while on the other hand, it can lead to a life lived according to the expectations and wishes of others (Karaşar, 2014). Tanhan and Mukba (2014) pointed out that the need for approval is common among codependency. In this respect, it can be thought that the need for social approval may be high in people with high levels of codependency. A codependent person makes various sacrifices and feels strong and approved in response for the sacrifices he/she has made (Ançel, 2012). Pleasing others and considering their expectations are common traits both in the need for social approval and in codependency. Self (2010) stated that being approved by others and pleasing them are the basis of codependency. Although the relationship between codependency and the need for social approval is explained theoretically, there is not enough research on the subject. There is only the study by Karaşar (2019) reporting a positive and medium correlation between codependency and the need for social approval.
Given the delineations above, it can be argued that the need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy can form an important ground to explain codependency. In this regard, the purpose of the current study is to investigate the power of the need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy in predicting codependency. The current study aims to explore the effects of these variables together with some demographic features. In Turkey, being perceived to be a good person and pleasing others seem to be important (Karaşar, 2014). As these are the characteristics widely seen in codependent people, it can be said that codependency is supported in Turkey. What affects codependency, which is associated with variables such as depression, health problems, and low self-esteem, has not been adequately studied, especially on pr-service teachers. It should be noted that the resources on the subject are extremely limited (Tanhan and Mukba, 2014;Karaşar, 2019). This study is expected to help fill this void in the literature. To this end, answers to the following questions were sought in the current study:

1.
Are the need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy predictors of codependency in pre-service teachers?

2.
Do pre-service teachers' codependency, need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy vary significantly depending on gender?

3.
Do pre-service teachers' codependency, need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy vary significantly depending on the birth order?

Research Method
The current study is a descriptive study employing the correlation survey model to explore the relationship between codependency and different variables in pre-service teachers.

Sample
The study group of the current research consisted of 195 students (156 females and 39 males) attending different departments in the Education Faculty of Amasya University. Of the participating students, 46 are 1 st year students, 52 are 2 nd year students, 28 are 3 rd year students and 69 are 4 th year students.

Data Collection Tools
In the current study, the Spann-Fischer Codependency Scale, the Need for Social Approval Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Self-love/Self-efficacy Scale.

Spann-Fischer Codependency Scale:
The scale was developed by Fischer, Spann and Crawford (1991). The scale was adapted to Turkish by Tanhan and Mukba (2014). It is a 6-point Likert scale. Higher scores taken from the scale indicate higher levels of codependency. The internal consistency coefficient of the scale measuring the features of codependency such as experiencing difficulty in expressing feelings and excessive external focus was found to be α=0.65. The common variance of the scale was found to be 48.69%. Criterion validity of the scale in the Turkish culture was checked with the General Health Questionnaire and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. Between the scale and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, -.19 correlation was found while its correlation with the General Health Questionnaire was found to be .29. In the current study, the internal consistency coefficient for the whole scale was found to be .74.

Need for Social Approval Scale:
This is a Likert-type scale developed by Karasar and Öğülmüş (2016a) to measure the need for social approval. The responses that can be given to the scale items range from "Strongly Agree" to "Strongly Disagree". Higher scores taken from the 25-item scale indicate higher levels of need for social approval. There are three sub-dimensions of the scale. These sub-dimensions are sensitivity to others' judgments, leaving a positive impression and social withdrawal. The internal consistency coefficients of the scale were found to be ranging from .80 to .83. The internal consistency coefficient calculated for the whole scale was found to be .90. Concurrent validity of the scale was checked with the Short Form of the Fear of Being Negatively Evaluated Scale and the correlation between these two scales was found to be .79. The goodness-of-fit indices calculated as a result of the confirmatory factor analysis were found to be high. In the analyses conducted to determine the pretest-posttest reliability of the scale, the coefficient was found to be .90. In the current study, the internal consistency coefficient of the whole scale was found to be .89.
Self-love/Self-efficacy Scale: The Self-love/Self-efficacy Scale was developed by Tafarodi and Swan (2001). The scale was adapted to Turkish by Doğan (2011). The scale has two sub-dimensions called self-love and self-efficacy. The internal consistency coefficient of the self-love sub-dimension was found to be .83 while it was found to be .74 for the self-efficacy sub-dimension. The test-retest coefficient of the scale was found to be .72 for the self-love and self-efficacy sub-dimensions. The goodness-of-fit indices of the scale were found to be high as a result of the confirmatory factor analysis. The correlation coefficients calculated between the self-love and self-efficacy sub-dimensions and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale were found to be .75 and .69, respectively. In the current study, the internal consistency coefficient calculated for the self-love sub-dimension is .81. The internal consistency coefficient calculated for the self-efficacy scale is .75.

Beck Depression Inventory:
The scale was developed by Beck et al. (1961). The scale was adapted to Turkish by Hisli (1988Hisli ( , 1989. The responses given to the items in this 21-item scale are scored between 0 and 3. The scores to be taken from the scale vary between 0 and 63. In the validity and reliability studies of the scale, the MMPI-D scale was used. The correlation found between the depression and MMPS-D scale is .50. Within the reliability studies, item analysis and split-half analysis were conducted and the correlation coefficients were found to be .80 and .74 (Hisli, 1989). In the current study, the internal consistency coefficient of the whole scale was found to be .87.

Data Collection and Analysis
The current study was conducted with the approval of the Social Sciences Ethics Committee of Amasya University dated 28/01/2020 and numbered 2668. The participating students were selected by using the random sampling method. Before the study, information was given to the participating students about the study. After the students had been asked whether they had any questions about the study, the scales were administered to the students. Completion of the scales lasted for about 15-20 minutes. In the analysis of the collected data, independent samples t-test and variance analysis were used to investigate the relationships between the variables and demographic features. In the determination of the relationships between codependency and the other variables, correlation analysis was run. In the determination of the variables predicting codependency, multiple regression analysis was conducted and assumptions were tested. Prior to the multiple regression analysis, the research data were checked in terms of the assumptions of the multiple regression analysis and the assumptions required for the multiple regression analysis were found to be met. The data were analyzed for linearity and multicollinearity. A VIF value lower than 10 and a CI value lower than 30 mean that there is no multicollinearity problem (Büyüköztürk, 2019). In the current study, the VIF value was found to be 1.75 while the CI value was found to be 27.00. These values show that there is no multicollinearity problem. Skewness and Kurtosis values were checked for the variables in the current study. The skewness and Kurtosis values were found to be .40 and -.17 for codependency, .96 and .12 for depression, .24 and .41 for the need for social approval, -.55 and .41 for self-love and -.10 and -.14 for self-efficacy, respectively. In the analysis of the data, statistical package SPSS was used.

FINDINGS
In this section of the study, first, the tables showing the relationships between codependency, the need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy and gender and the birth order are given. After the relationships between the variables have been shown through correlation analysis, the results of the multiple regression conducted to determine the power of the need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy in predicting co-dependency are presented.
In the current study, independent samples t-test was used to investigate whether codependency and the need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy of the pre-service teachers vary significantly depending on gender. The results of the analysis are presented in Table 1. The pre-service teachers' codependency was found to be not varying significantly depending on gender (t (193) = -0.49, p>.05). The depression scores of the pre-service teachers were also found to be not varying significantly depending on gender (t (193) = -0.53, p>.05). The need for social approval scores of the pre-service teachers were found to be not varying significantly depending on gender (t (193) = -1.57, p>.05). The self-love scores of the pre-service teachers were found to be not varying significantly depending on gender (t (193) = 1.20, p>.05). The self-efficacy scores of the pre-service teachers were found to be not varying significantly depending on gender (t (193) = 1.28, p>.05).

Table 1. Results of the t-test conducted to determine whether the pre-service teachers codependency, need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy vary significantly depending on gender
ANOVA test was used to investigate whether codependency and the need for social approval, depression, self-love and selfefficacy of the pre-service teachers vary significantly depending on the birth order. The results of the analysis are presented in Table 2. The results of the analysis showed that the codependency scores of the pre-service teachers do not vary significantly depending on the birth order (F(2,192)=.23, p>0.05). The depression scores were also found to be not varying significantly depending on the birth order (F(2,192)=.26, p>0.05). The need for social approval scores were found to be not varying significantly depending on the birth order (F(2,192)=.12, p>0.05). The self-love scores were found to be not varying significantly depending on the birth order (F(2,192)=.82, p>0.05). The self-efficacy scores were found to be varying significantly depending on the birth order (F(2,192)=7.00, p<0.05). In order to find the source of the difference observed in the self-efficacy, Scheffe test was conducted and the self-efficacy mean score of the first-born (x=27.06) was found to be significantly higher than those of the second-born (x=26.27) and the thirdborn (x= 24.28).
In Table 3, the correlation between the variables and descriptive statistics are presented. n=195 **p<.01 As can be seen in Table 3, there is medium and positive correlation between depression and codependency. There is a medium and positive correlation between codependency and the need for social approval. There is a medium and negative correlation between codependency and self-love. There is a medium and negative correlation between codependency and self-efficacy.
Multiple regression analysis was conducted to find the extent to which the need for social approval, depression, self-love and selfefficacy predict codependency. The results of the multiple regression analysis conducted to determine the extent to which the need for social approval, depression, self-love and self-efficacy predict codependency are presented in Table 4. As can be seen in Table 4, depression (β=0.42, p<0.05), the need for social approval (β=0.25, p<0.05), and self-love (β= -0.17, p<0.05) significantly predict codependency in the pre-service teachers; yet, self-efficacy (β= -0.03, p<0.05) does not significantly predict it. The depression, need for social approval and self-love variables together yield a significant correlation with the preservice teachers' codependency scores. Depression, the need for social approval, self-love and self-efficacy together explain 49% of the total variance in codependency (R= 0.70, R²= 0.49, p<0.05).

DISCUSSION
It was found that the depression, need for social approval and self-love variables in the models explain 49% of the total variance in the codependency scores of the pre-service teachers. In the model, depression was found to make the greatest contribution, followed by the need for social approval and self-love. The self-efficacy variable was found to not predict codependency in the pre-service teachers. In relation to the extent to which depression predicts codependency, Septien (1997) stated that codependent people who try to please others can be frequently in a depressive mood as they are not always successful in pleasing others. Cullen and Carr (1999) pointed out that people with high levels of codependency experience more depression. In many studies conducted on the subject, depression and codependency were found to be correlated with each other (Carson, 1990;Carson and Baker, 1994;Worth, 1996;Hughes-Hammer, Martsolf and Zeller, 1998;Ashley, 2000;Marks, Blore, Hine and Dear, 2012). This finding of the current study may also be due to the fact that people with symptoms of depression find the lives of others more valuable because they do not value themselves and their lives. It seems possible that they are in an effort to feel valued with their sacrifices made for other people because they do not value themselves. The individual can also be more interested in other people's lives in order to get away from his/her own problems.
When the relevant literature is reviewed, it is seen that there is limited research focused on the relationship between codependency and the need for social approval. In the study by Karaşar (2019), it was found that codependency and the need for social approval were positively and moderately correlated. Apart from this study, there is no study reporting a relationship between the need for social approval and codependency. Individuals with high need for social approval can be expected to have higher codependency scores as they focus on pleasing others. Culturally, paying attention to the opinions and expectations of others can explain the increase in codependency scores. Given that pleasing others and paying attention to other people's expectations are considered to be important in Turkey (Karaşar, 2014), the need for social approval can be thought to be important in the formation of codependency.
It is supported by the findings in the literature that codependency is predicted by the self-love variable, which is one of the dimensions of self-esteem. Many studies have shown that codependency is correlated with low self-esteem (Clark and Stoffel, 1992;Springer, Britt and Schlenker, 1998;Wells, Glickauf-Hughes and Jones, 1999;Cullen and Carr, 1999;Chang, 2010;Marks, Blore, Hine and Dear, 2012). This finding of the current study may indicate that people with high codependency prefer a life focused on others because they do not love themselves. It may be thought that they increase their sense of self-worth by overfocusing on other people and by making excessive sacrifice. Beattie (1996) also stated that codependent people want to be loved by others, but they think that they are not worthy of being loved.
In the current study, the pre-service teachers' co-dependency was found to be not varying significantly by gender. This finding seems to concur with the studies by Cullen and Carr (1999) and Karaşar (2020a). Although there are studies in the literature showing that codependency is higher in women (Fuller and Warner, 2000;Sezen, 2019), in the current study, no gender-based significant difference was observed and this might be because in the Turkish culture, the features of codependency such as being focused on others and trying to please others by ignoring one's own feelings, opinions and needs are promoted for both genders.
In the current study, it was also found that the depression scores do not vary significantly by gender. Similar findings have been reported in studies exploring depression (Karaşar and Öğülmüş, 2016b;Baytemir, 2018, Karaşar, 2020a). This might be because during their university lives, both male and female students live in almost similar conditions and thus they can be similarly affected by the conditions in their lives. The need for social approval was also found to be not varying significantly in the pre-service teachers. Similar findings have been reported in many studies focused on this subject (Karaşar and Öğülmüş, 2016c;Karaşar and Öğülmüş, 2016d;Karaşar and Öğülmüş, 2017;Karaşar and Baytemir, 2018;Karaşar, 2020b). This might; as stated by Karaşar (2014), be because for cultural reasons, the need for social approval similarly affects both males and females. The selflove and self-efficacy scores of the pre-service teachers were also found to be not varying significantly by gender. Parallel to this finding of the study, Sevim and Artan (2019) reported that self-esteem does not vary significantly depending on gender. This might be because university students regardless of their gender have similar lives.
In the current study, the self-efficacy scores of the pre-service teachers were found to be varying significantly depending on the birth order. The mean self-efficacy score of the first-born was found to be higher than those of the second-born and third-born. Adler is one of the theorists who draw attention to the importance of the birth order in terms of emotional development (Krohn, 2000). Adler stated that first-born children have a greater need for power (Sulloway, 1999). The greater need for power in firstborn children may have motivated them more to increase their sense of competence. This finding of the current study is supported by Taner (2019). On the other hand, the self-love scores of the pre-service teachers were found to be not varying significantly depending on the birth order. This finding of the study is also supported by Taner (2019). The fact that there is no significant difference in self-love depending on the birth order may be due to the similar child-rearing attitudes adopted by families in terms of self-love towards each of their children. The need for social approval was also found to be not varying significantly depending on the birth order. Similar results have been found in different studies in the literature (Karaşar and Öğülmüş, 2016c;Karaşar and Öğülmüş, 2016d). It can be thought that the need for social approval may be higher in the first children because while bringing up their children parents may have invested more efforts for their first children to be respectful to others' opinions, to be more adaptive and to leave positive impressions; yet, in the current study, this was not confirmed and this might indicate that the need for social approval is a more universal need. The codependency scores of the pre-service teachers were found to be not varying significantly depending on the birth order. This might be because familial experiences thought to be influential on the formation of the features of codependency might have similarly affected all the children in the family. When the extant research on codependency is examined, it is seen that the finding of the current study is supported by Self (2010) and Sezen (2019). Familial experiences can have important effects on the formation of codependency. Conditions such as being emotionally indifferent to the child's needs, occurrence of abuse in the family, parents' being rejective and overcritical can have strong influence on the formation of codependency (Lancer, 2018).