Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Egitim Arastirmalari - Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, sa.32, ss.69-82, 2008 (Scopus)
Problem Statement: As age advances, peer relations play an increasingly significant role in children's lives. One indicator of a child's social relationships and position within a peer group is his or her sociometric status. Many of the variables associated with sociometric status are also related to life satisfaction. For example, previous research indicates that both higher life satisfaction and popular sociometric status are associated with higher self-esteem. At the same time, both lower life satisfaction and rejected sociometric status are associated with various psychological and social problems, such as depression, lower self esteem, and declining physical and mental health. Based on their common relationships to other variables, one might speculate that sociometric status and life satisfaction are somehow related; however, our review of the literature has not revealed any published research that is related to life satisfaction and sociometric status. Purpose of study: This research was conducted in order to discover whether sociometric status creates any difference in the perception of life satisfaction and dimensions of life satisfaction for elementary school students. Methods: The study included 340 students between fourth and eight grades in a small province that is located in the eastern part of Turkey. In the study, sociometric status was determined, and the Turkish form of Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS) was used to assess their perception of life satisfaction. Frequency analysis, one way ANOVA, and LSD tests were used to analyze the data. Findings: The findings of this study showed that the perceived life satisfaction of students differed according to sociometric status, i.e., popular students have much higher life satisfaction than students from neglected and rejected groups. Also, the results demonstrated that sociometric status creates meaningful differences in scores belonging to dimensions of life satisfaction. According to these results, students who are accepted by popular group have a much higher life satisfaction for family domain than the neglected group; popular students have a much higher life satisfaction for friends domain than neglected and rejected groups; and students of rejected groups have lower life satisfaction than controversial groups. Recommendations: Life satisfaction is possibly an important part of an individual's success in dealing with peer relations. As a result, educational programming should be planned to increase life satisfaction of students from kindergarden through high school. Also, sociometric status is not only predictive of the social, behavioral, and cognitive adaptation over a short term period but also predictive of behavioral problems in later years. Therefore, social skills training should be given to the students within the school curriculum starting during the pre-school period and beyond. This method would allow the acquisition and development of these skills early in life and would likely prevent problems, such as rejection by friends later on when the student is older.