Life Satisfaction of Adolescents Living in Northern Cyprus Kıbrıs ’ ın Kuzeyinde Yaşayan Ergenlerin Yaşam Memnuniyetleri

In this research, the life satisfaction of adolescents who live in Northern Cyprus is examined. Demographic variables of adolescents have been taken into consideration while life satisfaction has been determined. The study has been completed in a way of scan pattern in accordance with quantitative method. The reachable universe of this study included the students attending 9, 10, 11, and 12 grade in the province of Kyrenia Northern Cyprus. The samples of research group included 436 students composed of 209 boys (%47,8) and 227 girls (%52,2). The data collection tools used during the research were, Personal Information Form which consists of demographic data and Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale. Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale consists of friend satisfaction, school satisfaction, environment satisfaction and self satisfaction sub-dimensions. The data has been analyzed with SPSS 20 package program. As a conclusion, within the sub-dimensions of the scale, friend satisfaction sub-dimension level of participants was found to be higher when compared to school, environment and self-satisfaction sub-dimension levels. Additionally, the life satisfaction points of 436 adolescents have shown a meaningful differentiation according to the school type, attended grades and education levels of mother and father. However, there has been no meaningfull differentiation regarding gender, age, number of siblings, the rank of birth, and the working status of mother and father.


Introduction
Individuals constantly grow since the moment they are born.In this process, in terms of development they go through special periods such as "adolescence".The period which starts with adolescence is called "critical period" (Kulaksızoğlu, 2009) when physical growth and psychological development occur very fast.The adolescent is neither an adult in this period, nor is he/she a child, but in a transition process from childhood to adulthood (Bülbül, 2004).
In this process, some psychological and social changes are also observed as a result of the physical change.Physical changes are followed by psychological changes (Tezel, Dzkanz, & Parlak, 2012).Physical change is seen automatically in time, but psychological change is entirely dependent on the active efforts of the adolescent.In this process, the adolescent feels that he/she belongs neither to the world of children nor to the world of adults.He/she is in a transition area in the middle of the two (Küey, 2008).Nevertheless, he/she is defenseless and fragile and unable to give a meaning to the changes and developments he/she is going through.If he/she encounters negative effects in this period, his/her entire life will be affected by this negativity and it will be attached to him/her for his/her entire life (Parman, 2008).
It is essential that the adolescent who is exposed to several changes feels satisfaction from this special period of his life during when he/she is sensitive towards the happenings in the environment.An unsatisfied adolescent can have the wrong environment and encounter negative results.Depending on the level of life satisfaction of the adolescent and his/her family and social environment, these negativities can lead to depression.If the individual suffers from depression, he/she can experience changes in his/her body.These changes can cause the adolescent to experience loneliness, lack of trust towards others, aggression, anorexia and sleeping disorders (Demirel & Canat, 2004).
Life satisfaction can be defined as the difference between what a person wants in his/her life and what he/she achieves (Selçukoğlu, 2001) or the situation emerging as a result of the expectations and achievements of a person (Özer and Karabulut, 2003).It has been observed that life satisfaction is also directly proportional to the level of happiness (Collard, 2006).The self-confidence of individuals who obtain satisfaction from their lives is also high and they establish healthy relations with the people around them (Diener, Diener, & Tamir, 2004).
There are several factors which affect the life satisfaction of an adolescent.These factors can be listed as the education that adolescent receive from his/her family, the education offered at the school, the environment in which he/she lives and grows, and cultural characteristics of the region he/she is living and growing (Baştemur, 2006).Satisfaction of adolescents from their lives affects their entire life in terms of emotional and social development and having a positive viewpoint can turn their life into positive (Çivitci, 2009).
There are situations which affect life satisfaction of adolescents and their positive point of view.These situations are perceived social attention, determining positive targets in individual lives, or making activities and sports (Doğan, 2006).As the life satisfaction obtained affects their entire life, it has a specifically important place.
The purpose of the study is to determine the life-satisfaction levels of students at the second stage of secondary school living in Northern Cyprus who were selected as adolescent group.The sub-purposes answered while exploring the purpose of the study are as follows: 1. How are the life-satisfaction levels of adolescents distributed depending on friends, school, environment and self sub-dimensions of the scale?2. Do the life-satisfaction levels of adolescents vary according to demographic data?Adolescence period is one of the most important periods of human development.
Adolescence period affects the future characters of individuals depending on the nature of the period and their behaviours in the society (Çiftci, 2015).For this reason, this period is important in the identity-development of the adolescent and directing his/her future.If the adolescent learns to live in peace and as satisfaction with life, his/her entire life will be affected positively.

Model of Research
In the study, quantitative research methods were used in examining the lifesatisfaction of adolescents at the secondary schools in Kyrenia district of Northern Cyprus.
The results were put forward with numerical data.Scan pattern was used in the research in this context.In scan pattern, prominent features of a group are explored (Karasar, 2012).In this research, depending on the definition of pattern, life satisfaction of adolescents was determined according to friend, school, environment, and self-satisfaction sub-dimensions.

Participants
The universe consists of secondary school students who are enrolled at state high schools and private high schools in Kyrenia district.There are six schools in the universe.
School principals of the six schools were reached, and except one, five of them stated that they would volunteer to support the study.In this context, 436 students in the universe formed the sample group of the study.Demographic information of the sample group who participated in the study is given below.

Data Collection Instrument
In the study, Personal Information Form and Multi-Dimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale were used as data collection tools.In the Personal Information Form developed by the researcher, gender, age, school, grade, number of siblings, birth rank, education status of parents and employment status of parents of adolescents were asked.
Multi-Dimensional Student Life Satisfaction Scale was developed in 1994 by Huebner and adopted to Turkish Language and culture in 2007 by Çivitci.The scale is a 4-likert type scale consisting of 36 items.The scores obtained from the scale which consists of friend, school, environment and self sub-dimensions give a general life satisfactions score.High scores on the scale indicate that life satisfaction is increasing.For this study, the reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated and Cronbach Alpha value was found as .87.

Analysis of Data
In the research data from 436 students of five high schools in Kyrenia district were collected.Answers given to the personal information form and scale were used as the basic data source.Quantitative data obtained from the scale were evaluated in computer environment and SPSS 20 package program was used for statistical analysis.The research used parametric t-test and ANOVA test in order to explore whether there was a significant difference between two sample groups or not.In cases where significant difference was found according to ANOVA test results, TUKEY test was employed in order to identify the groups between which this difference occurred.In analysis, difference significance level was taken as .05(Büyüköztürk, Bökeoğlu, & Köklü, 2015).In addition, frequency analysis, which is a descriptive statistical method, was used in order to be able to see the details of some independent variables and demographic structure of the participants.

Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels of Adolescents According to the Sub-Dimensions
The first sub-purpose of the study is "How are the life-satisfaction levels of adolescents distributed depending on friends, school, environment and self sub-dimensions of the scale?".Distribution of life satisfaction levels analyzed for this sub-purpose according to friend, school, environment and self sub-dimensions is given in table 2. Friend sub-dimension of life satisfaction scale consists of eight items in total.When the average score of this dimension is divided into the number of items, knowledge can be obtained as to the extent of satisfaction in terms of friends.In the light of this information, it is clear that friend satisfaction is at a high level ( X =3,43).There are six items in the "self" sub-dimension.It is evident that self satisfaction of participants is at a medium level ( X =3,20).According to this result, it can be said that life satisfaction of adolescents in terms of friend is higher compared to school, environment and self satisfaction.Similar conclusions can be reached when the literature is reviewed.Some results such as "the life satisfaction of adolescents according to friend sub-dimension is higher than school, environment and self sub-dimensions" are cited by the researchers (Cenkseven, 2004;Flashman, 2012;Hilooğlu & Cenkseven, 2010).Findings of conducted researches support this conclusion.In addition to this situation, Gong and Fan stated in their research in 2006 that environmental conditions affected life satisfaction of adolescents in a positive direction.It is believed that this difference is caused by the region of study.

Information
Second sub-purpose of the research is "Does the life satisfaction scores of adolescents vary according to demographic information?".In line with this sub-purpose data have been analysed according to the gender, age, school type, grade, number of siblings, rank of birth, education status of parents and working status of parents.As can be seen in table 3, the life satisfaction of male students is 88,30 whereas average score of life satisfaction of female students is calculated as 89,47.According to analysis results, there is no statistically significant difference between life satisfaction scale scores and genders of participants (p=,293; p>,05).This result shows that life satisfaction level of adolescents does not change according to gender.In the literature it is possible to find studies supporting this result or reporting the opposite result with this study.For example, Mahon, Yarcheski and Yarcheski found in their study in 2005 on university students that gender does not affect well-being.However, in a similar study Cenkseven and Akbaş (2007) found that female university students have a higher life satisfaction than male students.As can be seen in table 4, f value and p value, as regards whether life satisfaction scale scores of adolescents change according to age, were calculated as 1,203 and 0,309, respectively.No statistically significant difference has been found between life satisfaction scale scores and ages of participants (p=,309; p>,05).This finding which occurred according to the data obtained as a result of analysis revealed that life satisfaction levels of adolescents did not change according to age.As can be seen in table 5, f value and p value as regards whether life satisfaction scale scores of adolescents change according to their school type were calculated as 3,057 and 0,028, respectively.It is seen that there is statistically significant difference between scores of life satisfaction scale and school types of participants (p=,028; p<,05).As a result of TUKEY test which was performed in order to find the groups between which this difference occurred, it is seen that state schools ( =86,58) have lower life satisfaction when compared to private schools ( =90,76).According to this finding, it was concluded that adolescents at private high schools have higher life satisfaction compared to adolescents at state high schools.It is believed that the low level of life satisfaction of adolescents at state school is caused by socioeconomic status and interest.Students at private high school have more facilities when compared to students at state school.In addition, it is clear that students and parents at private school receive more interest and care.Such situations are factors that increase life satisfaction.
Şener explained that life satisfaction was the "situation which occurs when an individual compares the things that he/she desires and the things that he/she actually has" in his study conducted in 2008.The fact that an adolescent with better socio-economic status has higher life satisfaction can be related to the foregoing.It also reveals the idea that a student who studied in a private high school can also study in his preferred department for his preferred job in a private university.A survey conducted on this subject indicated that people who have intentionally made a preference about their profession experience a lower burnout in their professions (Kiraz & Özyurtlu, 2014).A similar study in this topic was conducted by Aydoğan in 2010.Aydoğan displayed in his study that the self-respect level of students will increase when monthly income of the family increased.Studies in a similar vein support the finding of the research.As can be seen in table 6, f value and p value as regards whether life satisfaction scale scores of adolescents change according to their grade were calculated as 2,936 and 0,033, respectively.It is seen that there is statistically significant difference between scores of life satisfaction scale and schools of participants (p=,033; p<,05).As a result of TUKEY test which was performed in order to find the groups between which this difference occurred, it is seen that 1 st grade students ( =88,00) have lower life satisfaction when compared to 4 th grade students ( =85,32).It is highly possible that high school 1 st grade students have higher life satisfaction compared to high school last grade students, who are preparing to university entrance examinations.The stress they are living during this preparation process leads to a decrease in life satisfaction.One of the most important reasons of examination stress is the pressure exerted of parents and schools on adolescents.Fears and anxieties of an adolescent who is under pressure increases simultaneously.This situation takes the entire social life of the adolescent prisoner.The adolescent fails to attend at social activities (cinema, theater, sports).Therefore, the satisfaction received by adolescent from life decreases.Literature review indicates similar results.Results such as "as grade of adolescents increase, life satisfaction decreases proportionally" were stated by researchers (Başer, 2009;Çivitci, 2009;Kaya & Saçkes, 2004;Lubin & Whitlock, 2004).As can be seen in table 7, f value and p value as regards whether life satisfaction scale scores of adolescents change according to their sibling number were calculated as 1,218 and X X X X 0,302, respectively.No statistically significant difference between scores of life satisfaction scale and sibling number of participants existed (p=,302; p>,05).This finding which occurred according to the data obtained at the end of analysis, it is clear that life satisfaction of adolescents does not change according to the number of siblings.As can be seen in table 8, f value and p value as regards whether life satisfaction scale scores of adolescents change according to their birth rank were calculated as 0,758 and 0,518, respectively.No statistically significant difference between scores of life satisfaction scale and the birth rank of participants existed (p=,518; p>,05).This finding which occurred as a result of analysis displayed that life expectation level does not change according to birth rank.As can be seen in table 9, f value and p value as regards whether life satisfaction scale scores of adolescents change according to the education status of mother were calculated as 3,288 and 0,021, respectively.There is statistically significant difference between scores of X X life satisfaction scale and education status of parents of participants existed (p=0,21; p<.05).
As a result of the TUKEY test which was performed in order to find between which groups this difference existed, it is seen that life satisfaction of 1: Illiterate people ( =94,44) is higher compared to 4: Bachelor's Degree holders ( =87,13).Life satisfaction level of adolescents whose mothers are illiterate turned out to be higher when compared to that of adolescents with university graduate mothers.This finding which emerged according to the data obtained as a result of the analyses revealed that life expectation levels change according to the education status of mother.One of the reasons of the foregoing may be that the illiterate mother has not opportunity for developing herself and spent most of her life with her children.
For this reason, a mother who will be closely interested in her children will make contribution to the increase of life satisfaction of her children.In addition, thinking that an illiterate mother will have less expectation from her children, it can be predicted that even small achievements obtained by the child are received by huge satisfaction by the mother and failures do not cause stress and sadness.It can be considered that positive feedbacks received by a child who faces such a situation will lead to an increase in his/her life satisfaction level.It is seen that there are studies which display contradicting results in the literature.For example, in their study conducted in 2014, Gülcan and Bal concluded that education status of mother did not create a significant difference in life satisfaction.Kırtıl (2009), in his study conducted on secondary school students, found that life satisfaction did not show any change on education status of the mother.It is believed that this difference in the literature is caused by the research group or geographical culture.As can be seen in table 10, f value and p value as regards whether life satisfaction scale scores of adolescents change according to the education status of father were calculated X X X X as 3,288 and 0,021, respectively.There is statistically significant difference between scores of life satisfaction scale and education status of fathers of participants existed (p=0,000; p<,05).
As a result of the TUKEY test which was performed in order to find between which groups this difference existed, it is seen that life satisfaction of 1: Illiterate people ( =87,00) is higher compared to 4: Bachelor's Degree holders ( =86,47).Life satisfaction level of adolescents whose fathers are illiterate turned out to be higher when compared to that of adolescents with university graduate fathers.This finding which emerged according to the data obtained as a result of the analyses revealed that life expectation levels change according to the education status of father.This can be caused by the fact that targets of fathers who are university graduates are higher when compared to the targets determined by illiterate fathers.
For this reason, an adolescent will find it difficult to reach the targets chosen by the father and that will decrease his/her life satisfaction.A literature review reveals that "life satisfaction of adolescents is positively affected depending on the education level of the father" (Aydoğan, 2010;Gökçakan & Nadir, 2001;Zincirkıran, 2008).Contrary to this finding, Ünal and Şahin, in their study in 2013, concluded that education status of the father did not create a significant difference on the life satisfaction of the adolescents.As can be seen in table 11, life satisfaction average scores of participants with working mothers and non-working mothers were calculated as 88,55 and 89,38, respectively.
According to analysis results, no statistically significant difference was found between working status of participants and life satisfaction scale scores (p=,463; p>,05).This finding which occurred according to the data obtained as a result of analysis revealed that life satisfaction level of adolescents did not change depending on the working status of mother.In this study, life satisfaction of adolescents was examined.In order to be able to generalize the results of the research being conducted, it is suggested that a similar research should be carried out with adolescents living in different regions and in different ethnic groups.
There are several factors which affect life satisfaction, social support and selfconfidence.People who want to perform research in this area can study using several variables care for the self, anxiety status and subjective well-being based on a relational pattern.

Table 1 .
Sample Distribution

Table 2 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Sub-Dimensions 19,2385 in self sub-dimension.According to these calculations, the lowest average belongs to self sub-dimension and the highest average belongs to friend sub-dimensions.According to X life satisfaction scale of participants, it can be said that satisfaction in friends sub-dimension is the highest when compared to other dimensions.

Table 3 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Gender

Table 4 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Age

Table 5 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the School Type

Table 6 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Grade

Table 7 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Sibling Number

Table 8 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Birth Rank

Table 9 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Mother's Education Status

Table 10 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Father's Education Status

Table 11 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Mother's Working Status

Table 12 .
Distribution of Life Satisfaction Levels According to the Father's Working Status effect on child raising and, therefore, life satisfaction of adolescents, a casualcomparative research can be conducted between adolescents living in other countries and Northern Cyprus.