EXPLORING THE LINK BETWEEN FEAR OF HAPPINESS, SEPARATION ANXIETY AND RELIGIOUS COPING OF ADOLESCENTS IN TURKEY

Abstract

This study primarily includes the investigation of separation anxiety, religious coping, fear of happiness and life satisfaction. Separation anxiety consists of sub-factors of school phobia, fear of harm befalling family members, being away from the secure base, general anxiety and extended analysis as psychological adjustment with other psychological variables. The data was collected from adolescents in Turkey (N=187 ). We applied statistical procedures first assessed whether the independent variables influence on demographic variables and summarized partial correlations among the religious and psychological constructs used to clarify the separation anxiety. Among separation anxiety sub-factors, the being away from a secure base representing most consistent factor was positively associated with fear of happiness, negatively correlated with religious coping and life satisfaction. In general, separation anxiety assesses possible psychological challenges of school students and displays association with fear of happiness. Religious coping negatively correlated with fear of happiness and separation anxiety but predicted life satisfaction. Surprisingly, the investigation produced no association between separation anxiety and life satisfaction respectively. Such findings, in this way, need to be considered carefully in the cultural context. These results indicate that psychologists, educators and counselors who wish to evaluate and improve the happiness of adolescents, should consider cultural values and being away from a secure base.