Investigating the Well-being of Adolescents Enrolled in Religious Vocational High Schools through Self-perception Figures

Year 2015, Issue: 1, 47 - 64, 01.06.2015

Müge Yukay Yüksel Hacer Yıldırım Kurtuluş Ayşe Ezgi Damar

Abstract

Similar to other psychosocial periods, adolescence requires adaptation by individuals in order to pass through successfully. During adolescence individuals might encounter many personal, social, occupational and economic issues. Therefore it is important for them to maintain a positive sense of self, be uniquely individualized by maintaining their psychological well-being, and develop their own self-perceptions through greater self-awareness. The present study aims to investigate the psychological well-being of ninth-grade adolescent students enrolled in religious vocational high schools through the lens of their self-perceptions depending on several variables and further to shed light on similar studies. Participants in this study comprised 160 students aged 14 from different socioeconomic backgrounds. These participating students attend Kadıköy Male Religious Vocational High School (Boarding) and Sultanbeyli Female Religious Vocational High School in Istanbul. In this study, the Psychological Well-being Scale and the picture drawing technique were used for data collection. Results revealed that though students’ levels of psychological well-being do not vary significantly depending on the self-perception figures drawn by them, there are significant differences depending on gender, their perceived socioeconomic level and whether they are boarding at the school.

Keywords

Psychological Well-being, Adolescence, Self-perception