Romantic Relationship Satisfaction Levels of Female University Students in Turkey: Examining through Attachment Dimensions, Perceived Abuse in Relationship and Future Time Orientation of Relationship

Abstract

Abstract:The study mainly aimed to identify an important task of emerging adulthood i.e. romantic relationships by investigating possible roles of socio-economic status of families, attachment dimensions, future orientation and perceived abuse in relations on relationship satisfaction of female university students. In this context, it is aimed to understand the role of being a student of state or private universities, as well as grades, relationship durations, family income, mothers' and fathers' education level and marital status of parents' among perceived abuse in relationship and satisfaction in relationship. To that end, we carried out the research in two different universities whose students have different socio-economic background with the assumption that it has an important role in perceiving abuse as well as in determining the value of romantic relationship. According to findings, students of the private university have more satisfaction in their romantic relationships than students of the state university. Females who are at higher-grades and have relatively longer relationship also have more relationship satisfaction. Besides, according to findings of regression analysis, predictive factors of romantic relationship satisfaction in sequence are avoidance attachment, perceived abuse in romantic relationship, anxiety attachment and future time orientation in romantic relationship.Key Words: attachment dimensions, abuse in romantic relationship, abuse, relationship satisfaction, future orientation. Kadın Üniversite Öğrencilerinin Romantik İlişki Doyumunun Bağlanma Boyutları, İlişkide Algıladıkları İstismar ve Gelecek Zaman Yönetimi Açısından İncelenmesiÖz: Araştırmanın temel amacı beliren yetişkinlik döneminin en önemli gelişimsel görevlerinden biri olarak romantik ilişkileri araştırmaktır. Bu bağlamda ailelerin sosyo-ekonomik düzeylerinin, bağlanma boyutlarının, gelecek yöneliminin ve ilişkilerinde algıladıkları istismarın kadın üniversite öğrencilerinin ilişki doyumu ile ilişkisi incelenmiştir. Bu bağlamda, vakıf üniversitesinde okuyan öğrenciler ile devlet üniversitesi öğrencilerinin ilişkide algıladıkları istismar düzeyi ve ilişkide algıladıkları doyumun düzeyi sınıf, ilişki süresi, gelir durumu, ailelerin eğitim düzeyi ve evlilik durumu gibi değişkenlere açısından farklı olup olmadığı ele alınmıştır. Bu amaca uygun olarak çalışmalar iki ayrı üniversitede eş zamanlı olarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırma sonuçları vakıf üniversitesi öğrencilerinin romantik ilişkilerinde daha fazla doyum yaşadıklarını ortaya koymuştur. Dahası, üst sınıf öğrencileri ve daha uzun süreli ilişki sahibi olanların ilişki doyumu daha yüksek bulunmuştur. Son olarak regresyon analizi sonuçları romantik ilişki doyumunun sırası ile kaçınan bağlanma, romantik ilişkilerde algılanan istismar, kaygılı bağlanma ve ilişkide gelecek yönelimi ile ilişkili olduğu bulunmuştur.

Factors Affecting Romantic Relationship Satisfaction of University Students

“…As a result of examining the correlation between university students' romantic relationship satisfaction and their variables, it was found that adult attachment had a negative correlation with romantic relationship satisfaction. This result is consistent with Choi and Kim [17] and Yildiz, Cokamay, and Artar [18] . In general, the two dimensions of adult attachment, avoidance attachment and anxiety attachment, are viewed as unstable attachment, and there tend to be more relationship problems as the degree of adult attachment grows stronger [19] .…”

Factors Affecting Romantic Relationship Satisfaction of University Students

“…As a result of examining the correlation between university students' romantic relationship satisfaction and their variables, it was found that adult attachment had a negative correlation with romantic relationship satisfaction. This result is consistent with Choi and Kim [17] and Yildiz, Cokamay, and Artar [18] . In general, the two dimensions of adult attachment, avoidance attachment and anxiety attachment, are viewed as unstable attachment, and there tend to be more relationship problems as the degree of adult attachment grows stronger [19] .Anxiety attachment in this study had a stronger negative correlation with romantic relationship satisfaction than did avoidance attachment, which is similar to the results in the previous literature [17] .…”

Psychometric Properties of the Brief Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Engagement Scale in a Community Sample of Turkish Adults

“…The rationale for including two samples came from earlier studies on romantic relationships in Turkey. Studies have shown that relationship status and age, compared with other demographics in Turkey, are more likely to predict relationship satisfaction (e.g., social class, education level; Demirli Yıldız, Çokamay, & Artar, 2017). Therefore, we wanted to see whether our results would differ across these two groups.…”