The Relationship between Attitudes towards Asylum Seekers and Compassion Levels of University Students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to adapt the attitude scale towards asylum seekers and refugees to Turkish culture and to examine the relation of university students' attitudes towards asylum seekers to certain personality traits. The study was conducted with the participation of 340 university students. The attitude scales for both asylum seekers and refugees were adapted to Turkish culture and validity and reliability studies were conducted in the study. Findings have shown that they provide the necessary conditions on both scales and can be used as a reliable and valid measuring tool in studies. In addition, students with a high level of compassion, empathy and understanding have been found to have a more positive attitude toward asylum seekers / refugees at a meaningful level. Also, the students studying at the faculty of theology have more positive attitude than the students studying at other faculties. However, the attitude towards asylum seekers / refugees did not differ according to gender. Findings are discussed in the light of the literature.

Keywords

• Refugee
• Asylum Seeker
• Attitude Scale
• Sensitivity
• Empathy
• Understanding
• Compassion

The Relationship between Attitudes towards Asylum Seekers and Compassion Levels of University Students

Abstract

The aim of this study is to adapt the attitude scale towards asylum seekers and refugees to Turkish culture and to examine the relation of university students' attitudes towards asylum seekers to certain personality traits. The study was conducted with the participation of 340 university students. The attitude scales for both asylum seekers and refugees were adapted to Turkish culture and validity and reliability studies were conducted in the study. Findings have shown that they provide the necessary conditions on both scales and can be used as a reliable and valid measuring tool in studies. In addition, students with a high level of compassion, empathy and understanding have been found to have a more positive attitude toward asylum seekers / refugees at a meaningful level. Also, the students studying at the faculty of theology have more positive attitude than the students studying at other faculties. However, the attitude towards asylum seekers / refugees did not differ according to gender. Findings are discussed in the light of the literature.

Keywords

• Refugee
• Asylum Seeker
• Attitude Scale
• Sensitivity
• Empathy
• Understanding
• Compassion

References

1. AFAD. (2013). Türkiye'deki Suriyeli sığınmacılar 2013: Saha araştırması sonuçları [Syrian refugees in Turkey 2013: Field survey result]. Retrieved March, 2015 from https://www.afad.gov.tr/Dokuman/TR/60-2013123015491-syrian-refugees-in-turkey-2013_baski_30.12.2013_tr.pdf
2. Aksu-Kargın, İ. (2016). The Syrian refugees in Turkey: Their living conditions and the ways in which their presence has affected Turkish society. Doctoral dissertation. Indiana University.
3. Anderson, J. R. (2017). The moderating role of socially desirable responding in implicit–explicit attitudes toward asylum seekers. International Journal of Psychology. doi:10.1002/ijop.12439
4. Anderson, J. & Ferguson, R. (2017). Demographic and ideological correlates of negative attitudes towards asylum seekers: A meta‐analytic review. Australian Journal of Psychology. doi:10.1111/ajpy.12162
5. Aras-Gökalp, E. N. & Mencütek, Z. Ş. (2015). The international migration and foreign policy nexus: The case of Syrian refugee crisis and Turkey. Migration Letters, 12(3), 193-208.
6. Arnot, M., Pinson, H. & Candappa, M. (2009). Compassion, caring and justice: Teachers' strategies to maintain moral integrity in the face of national hostility to the ‘non-citizen’. Educational Review, 61(3), ss.249-264, doi:10.1080/00131910903045906
7. Bello, V. (2016). Inclusiveness as Construction of Open Identity: How Social Relationships Affect Attitudes Towards Immigrants in European Societies. Social Indicators Research, 126(1), 199-223.
8. Boyden, J. (2009). What place the politics of compassion in education surrounding non-citizen children? Educational Review, 61(3), ss.265-276, doi:10.1080/00131910903045914

9. Burns, N. & Grove, S. K. (2003). Understanding nursing research (3th ed., pp. 265–307).
10. Byrne, B. M. (2001). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
11. Ceobanu, A. M. & Escandell, X. (2010). Comparative analyses of public attitudes toward immigrants and immigration using multinational survey data: A review of theories and research. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 309-328. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.012809.102651
12. Christophersen, M., Liu, J., Thorleifsson, C. M. & Tiltnes, A. A. (2013). Lebanese Attitudes Towards Syrian Refugees and the Syrian Crisis. Results from a National Opinion Poll. FAFO Paper, (13).
13. Cohen, J. W. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
14. Cortina, J. M. (1993). What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(1), 98-104.
15. Croucamp, C. J., O'connor, M., Pedersen, A. & Breen, L. J. (2017). Predicting community attitudes towards asylum seekers: A multi‐component model. Australian Journal of Psychology, 69(4), 237-246.
16. Çetinsaya, G. (2014). Büyüme, kalite, uluslararasılaşma: Türkiye yükseköğretimi için bir yol haritası [Growth, quality, internationalization: A road map for higher education in Turkey]. Eskişehir: Anadolu University Press.
17. Çiçekli, B. (2014). Yabancılar ve Mülteci Hukuku [Foreigners and Refugee Law] (5th ed.). Ankara: Seçkin Punlication.
18. Demir, O. Ö. (2016). Crisis or opportunity? Public debate and perception on Syrian Refugees in Turkey. In (D. Eroglu, J. H. Cohen and I. Sirkeci). Turkish Migration 2016 Selected Papers. London: Transational press.
19. Demirci-Seyrek, Ö., Ersanlı, K. & Tunç, T. (2016). Duyarlık Ölçeği [Validation of the compassion scale]. Electronic Journal of Social Sciences, 15(56), 284-294.
20. Dinçer, O. B., Federici, V., Ferris, E., Karaca, S., Kirişci, K. & Çarmıklı, E. Ö. (2013). Suriyeli Mülteciler ve Türkiye: Sonu Gelmeyen Misafirlik [Turkey and Syrian refugees: The limits of hospitality]. International Strategic Research Organization (USAK).
21. Doğanay, Ü. & Çoban Keneş, H. (2016). Yazılı basında Suriyeli ‘Mülteciler’: Ayrımcı söylemlerin rasyonel ve duygusal gerekçelerinin inşası [Syrian ‘Refugees’ in printed press: Construction of rational and emotinal justifications of discriminatory discourses]. Mülkiye Dergisi, 40(1), 143-184.
22. Erdogan, M. (2015). Türkiye’deki Suriyeliler: Toplumsal Kabul ve Uyum [Syrians in Turkey: Social acceptance and integration research]. İstanbul: Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları
23. Erdoğan, S., Nahcivan, N. & Nihal M. N. (2014). Hemşirelikte Araştırma Süreç, Uygulama ve Kritik [Nursing research. Process, implementation, and critics]. Ankara: Nobel publication.
24. Ergin, H. (2016). Turkish University Students’ Perceptions towards Their Syrian Classmates. Education and Science, 41(184). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15390/EB.2016.6214
25. Ergün, E. (2012). Avrupa insan hakları sözleşmesi ve Türk hukukunda sınır dışı etme geri gönderme ve geri verme [European human rights treaty and deportation in Turkish law]. Ankara: Yargı Publication.
26. Gallego, A. & Pardos-Prado, S. (2014). The big five personality traits and attitudes towards immigrants. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 40(1), 79-99.
27. Gordon, S. L. (2016). Welcoming refugees in the rainbow nation: contemporary attitudes towards refugees in South Africa. African Geographical Review, 35(1), 1-17.
28. Gökçearslan-Çifci, E., Özdemir, B., Arslan, E. & Akgül-Gök, F. (2016). Attitudes of shopping mall workers towards Somali asylum seekers. In (D. Eroglu, J. H. Cohen and I. Sirkeci). Turkish Migration 2016 Selected Papers. London: Transational press.
29. Hair, J. F. Jr., Anderson, E.R., Tatham, L.R. & Black, W.C. (2003). Multivariate Data Analysis, 5th edition. New Delhi: Pearson Education.
30. Huck, S. W. (2000). Reading statistics and research. New York: Addision Wesley Longman
31. Kağnıcı, D. Y. (2017). Suriyeli mülteci çocukların kültürel uyum sürecinde okul psikolojik danışmanlarına düşen rol ve sorumluluklar [School counselors’ roles and responsibilities in cultural adaptation process of Syrian refugee children]. İlköğretim Online, 16(4). doi:10.17051/ilkonline.2017.342990
32. Kanbur, N. İ. (2017). İlkokulda görev yapan öğretmenlerin mülteci öğrencilere yönelik tutumlarının incelenmesi [The examination of the primary school teachers' opinions about the problems of refugee students]. Master Thesis. Sakarya University, Educational Science Institute. Sakarya.
33. Karakuş, M. & Göktuna-Yaylacı, F. (May, 2015). Student perceptions on refugees: an evaluation based on multiculturalism. International Conference on Contemporary Issues in Education. Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
34. Karaoğlu, E. (2015). The role of social dominance orientation, empathy and perceived threat in predicting prejudice of Turkish citizens toward Syrian immigrants. Master Thesis. Midde East Technical University, Graduate school of social sciences, Ankara
35. Kardeş, S., Banko, Ç. & Akman, B. (2017). Sosyal medyada Suriye’li sığınmacılara yönelik algı: bir sözlük değerlendirmesi [Perceptions about Syrian refugees on social media: an evaluation of a social media platform]. Göç Dergisi, 4(2), 185-200.
36. Martin, P. L. (2002). Germany: Managing migration in the 21st century. Institute of European Studies.
37. Neff, K. D. (2003). Self- compassion: An alternative conceptualization of a healthy attitude toward oneself. Self and Identity, 2(2), 85-101.
38. Nickerson, A. M. ve Louis, W. R. (2008). Nationality Versus Humanity? Personality, Identity, and Norms in Relation to Attitudes Toward Asylum Seekers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38(3), 796-817.
39. Özdemir, F. & Öner-Özkan, B. (2016). Türkiye’de sosyal medya kullanıcılarının Suriyeli mültecilere ilişkin sosyal temsilleri [Social representations of social media users toward Syrian refugees in Turkey]. Nesne, 4(8), 227-244. doi: 10.7816/nesne-04-08-04
40. Pedersen, A., Attwell, J. & Heveli, D. (2005). Prediction of negative attitudes toward Australian asylum seekers: False beliefs, nationalism, and self-esteem. Australian Journal of Psychology, 57(3), 148-160. DOI: 10.1080/00049530500125157
41. Perry, R., Paradies, Y. & Pedersen, A. (2014). Religious ambivalence: Suppression of pro-social attitudes toward asylum seekers by right-wing authoritarianism. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 25, 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2014.921473
42. Sansonetti, S. (2016). Female refugees and asylum seekers: The issue of integration. Policy department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional affairs.
43. Directorate-General of Immigration Administration of T.R. Ministry of Internal Affairs (2017). Göç istatistikleri: Geçici koruma [Migration statistics: Temporary protection]. Retrieved December 2017 from http://www.goc.gov.tr/icerik6/temporary-protection_915_1024_4748_icerik
44. Topkaya, Y. & Akdağ, H. (2016). Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmen Adaylarının Suriyeli Sığınmacılar Hakkındaki Görüşleri -Kilis 7 Aralık Üniversitesi Örneği- [Prospective Social Studies Teachers’ Views About Syrian Defector-Kilis 7 Aralık University Sample-]. Çankırı Karatekin University Journal of Institute of Social Sciences, 7(1), 767-786.
45. UNHCR (2016). Syria regional refugee response inter-agency information sharing portal. Retrieved April 2016 from http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=224
46. Ünal, S. (2014). Türkiye'nin beklenmedik konukları:"Öteki" bağlamında yabancı göçmen ve mülteci Deneyimi [Turkey's unexpected guests: Foreign immigrants and refugees experience in the context of “other”]. Zeitschrift für die Welt der Türken/Journal of World of Turks, 6(3), 65-89.
47. Van Der Veer, K., Ommundsen, R., Hak, T. & Larsen, K. S. (2003). Meaning shift of items in different language versions. A cross-national validation study of the Illegal Aliens Scale. Quality & Quantity, 37(2), 193-206.
48. Ward, C. & Masgoret, A. M. (2008). Attitudes toward Immigrants, Immigration, and Multiculturalism in New Zealand: A Social Psychological Analysis1. International Migration Review, 42(1), 227-248.
49. Yıldız, Ö. (2013). Syrian refugees in the Turkey’s camps: Problems, Expectations, Turkey and Future Perception. Journal of Sociological Research, 16(1), 140-169.
50. YÖK-Higher Education Institute (2018). Yükseköğretim bilgi yönetim sistemi: Öğrenci istatistikleri [Higher education information management system: Student statistics]. Retrieved June, 2018 from https://istatistik.yok.gov.tr/