Abstract
Spirituality, a universal phenomenon unique to each individual, interacts with the individual's personality traits, attitudes, belief or value systems, and the meaning they attribute to situations or life in general. Therefore, we wondered whether spiritual well-being is an effective factor on gender, which is expressed as the importance and value attributed by the society to being a woman or a man and accordingly the perception of the social role, behaviour and status expected from individuals. Thus, the study was carried out to determine the relationship between university students' spiritual well-being (SWB) and gender perception. In this study, in which 727 university students participated, it was examined whether the SWB and gender perceptions of the participants differ in terms of various variables, as well as the relationship between SWB and gender perception. In this quantitative study, the "Spiritual Well-Being Scale" (SWBS) developed by Ekşi and Kardaş in 2017 and the "Perception of Gender Scale" developed by Altınova and Duyan in 2013 were used.
At the end of the research, the SWB levels of the sample were determined to be high and the perception of gender was positive. Significant differences were found in favour of women in the gender variable between the scores obtained from the general SWBS and its sub-dimensions. Women's total scores were higher than men's in the overall SWBS, transcendence, and harmony with nature sub-dimensions. In the anomie sub-dimension, the high average score of men indicated that spiritual well-being is in favour of women in the aforementioned dimension.
No significant difference was found in the total mean scores of SWBS in the variables of age, school type, place of residence and family type, but there were significant differences between the groups in some sub-dimensions. For example, in the age variable, although not statistically supported, it was revealed that as the age increased, the SWB general score average of the participants increased too. In the sub-dimensions of harmony with nature and anomie, the mean scores were found to differ significantly between the groups. There are significant differences between the groups in the anomie sub-dimension in the school type and family type variables, and in the transcendence sub-dimension in the living place variable. In the school type variable, in the anomie sub-dimension, the mean score of the students studying at the faculties was determined to be lower than the students who study at vocational schools significantly. In the family type variable, the highest mean in the anomie sub-dimension was found in the single-parent group, which was interpreted as having a single parent has a negative effect on SWB. According to the place of residence variable, only a significant difference was found in the transcendence sub-dimension in favour of those living in the village/town.
The family is a very important factor in the individual's acquisition and adoption of spiritual values, and making them parts of his/her life. The attitude of the family and child's satisfaction in the family life can also affect his/her later SWB levels. In this context, the results of the research showed that the SWB level of the sample differed significantly in the general and sub-dimensions of the scale according to the family attitude variable. The SWB score of the group with a democratic family attitude was the highest. Inconsistent family attitude was determined to be a negative factor on SWB.
The results of the research showed that the gender perception levels of the sample also differ according to gender and age variables. Gender perception was revealed to be more positive in women and younger individuals. In the study, no significant differences were found in the gender perception levels of the sample according to the school type, place of residence, family type and family attitude variables.
Finally, in this study, the relationship between SWB and its sub-dimensions and gender perception was discussed. However, there was no significant relationship between SWB and gender perception as a result of the analyses. The "Spiritual Well-Being" scale items used in this research are thought to have spiritual content rather than religion at the cultural level. Therefore, a culturally sensitive SWB scale study in which the spiritual and religious dimensions are revealed more clearly can be suggested. Moreover; it may be recommended to repeat the study with a larger sample group, including individuals in older age groups, and to compare the results in order to determine the perception of gender more clearly.