Abstract
This study aims to investigate the predictive effect of spirituality and empathy levels of students studying in faculties of theology on their altruism attitudes. In addition, it was investigated whether there was a relationship between the scale scores of the participants and whether the scale scores differed according to some socio-demographic variables. It is thought that it is valuable to know the altruism levels of the students studying in faculties that train staff for professions that are based on helping people and where leadership and exemplary are expected. In the theoretical framework of the research, the relationship between the concepts has been tried to be revealed. This research is a descriptive study structured with the relational survey model, one of the general survey models of quantitative research. The study sample was 343, 77.8% (n=267) female and 22.2% (76) male, selected by random sampling among the students studying at the Faculty of Islamic Sciences of Kütahya Dumlupınar University in the 2021-2022 academic year and voluntarily participated in the research. It consists of students 16.3% (n=56) of the participants were in the preparatory class, 25.4% (n=87) were in the first year, 18.1% (n=62) were in the sophomore year, 16.9% (n=58) were third year students and 23.3% (n=80) were fourth-year students. The data collected using the Altruism Scale, the Spirituality Scale, and the Toronto Empathy Scale were analyzed using the SPSS 25 program. The level of significance in the analysis was determined as 0.05. In the analysis of the data, the frequency, percentage, average, etc., of the students who make up the research group. Descriptive statistics, Independent Samples t-Test was used to determine the differences in comparisons between variables with two groups, and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for comparisons between variables with more than two groups. Pearson Correlation analysis was used to determine whether there is a linear relationship between the scale scores and, if so, the degree and direction of this relationship. Finally, the Multiple Linear Regression Test was used to determine the predictive power of the independent variables on the dependent variable according to the participants' scores on the scales. According to the analysis results, a positive and moderately significant relationship was found between the altruism and spirituality scores of the participants. The variance explained by the altruism and spirituality variables on each other is 16.72%. A positive and moderately significant relationship was found between altruism and empathy scores. The variance explained by the altruism and empathy variables on each other is 12.46%. According to the results of the analysis performed to determine the effect of spirituality and empathy on the altruism levels of the participants, the adjusted R2 value was calculated as 0.200. It has been determined that the independent variables, spirituality, and empathy, can explain 20% of the changes in altruism, which is the dependent variable; that is, the variables of spirituality and empathy have a positive and significant effect on altruism. The results obtained in this research can be developed with the findings of new studies in which longitudinal and experimental research models are preferred that reveal cause-effect relationships.