Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Journal, 26, Summary, only at pdrciyiz.biz

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SUMMARY
RELATIONS BETWEEN SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELORS’ LIFE SATISFACTION, STRATEGIES OF COPING WITH STRESS AND NEGATIVE AUTOMATIC THOUGHTS*
Nergüz Bulut**
The school counselors at schools are obliged to be well-qualified in terms of professional knowledge and skills and personal characteristics (Kendrick, Chandler and Hatcher, 1994). According to Ültanır (1998), the development of guidance services along with the psychological counseling in education field has been put in practice by assigning “names”, “roles” and “status” of the school counselors, and by the fact that these educational and personal guidance are conducted by the expert personnel. Life satisfaction means well being from different perspectives such as happiness and morale, and the superiority of the positive feelings over negative ones within daily relations (Vara, 1999). While life satisfaction is expressed as an important element of comprehensive happiness, dissatisfaction of life can be explained as a generalized stress condition (Diener, 2000). Some of the factors such as personality, the way of thoughts, psychosocial characteristics and currently possessed equipments of the individuals are determining in the individuals coping with stress in a healthy way and effectively. Unrealistic thoughts, avoidance, wrong decision and constant delay are all hinders before the struggle against stress (Aysan, 1998).
This research has two purposes: The first one is to research the relations between the school counselors’ life satisfaction, coping strategies and negative thoughts. The second one is to study at what level demographic variations predict the psychological counselors’ life satisfaction level.
With these purposes in mind, the answers to the following research questions were sought for:
1. Does life satisfaction, strategies to cope with stress and negative automatic thoughts of the psychological counselors show differences with regard to the factors such as gender, age, level of education, the institution they work at, whether they find the knowledge and the skills satisfactory which they acquired at the schools they graduated from?
2. Is there a significant difference between life satisfaction, strategies to cope with stress and negative thoughts of the school psychological counselors?

METHOD
The research is a survey study. The domain of the study is the state primary and high schools in the province of Izmir. The sampling of the research consists of 141 randomly selected psychological counselors, 112 of whom are women (79,4 %), 29 of whom are men (20,6 %), working at the state primary and high schools in the province of Izmir in the 2002-2003 academic year. The data were collected through the use of Coping Strategies Inventory (CSI), Life Saticfaction Scale (LSS) and Automatic Thoughts Qestionnaire-Revised (ATQ-R) and “Personal Information Form”, developed by the researchers. To check whether there was a difference between the groups the t-test was applied for the two variables and F-test for the multiple variables. To find out from which groups the significant differences found out between the variables came from, Scheffe Test was used. Pearson Correlation Analysis was used to find out whether there was a relation between the scales and sub-scales used in the research.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
When the findings obtained from the comparisons between the independent variables and points gathered from the scales were studied, no significant difference was found out between life satisfaction, strategies to cope with stress and negative automatic thoughts in compliance with gender.
With regard to life satisfaction of the school psychological counselors, life satisfaction levels of those counselors who stated that they were satisfied with their working conditions were higher than those who did not; life satisfaction levels of those counselors who found the knowledge and skills satisfactory which they acquired at the schools which they graduated from were higher than those who did not.
When the relations between the life satisfaction of school psychological counselors, with coping strategies that they used to cope with stress and negative automatic thoughts were examined, a positive relation was detected between “avoidance”, one of the ineffective coping strategies, and negative automatic thoughts. I some of the studies which supported that there was a relation between perceived stress and negative life satisfaction, positive relations were found out between life satisfaction and coping with stress Hamarat et al, 2001; Matheney, Curlette, Aysan and et al., 2002). This finding is parallel to the ones in the research, Şahin & Durak (1995), Aysan & Bozkurt (2000), Akbağ (2000), Aysan & Harmanlı (2003).
In compliance with the results of Multiple Regression analysis, when the results of t-test related to Regression coefficients’ significance were analyzed, the variables such as the psychological counselors’ perception of their knowledge and skills satisfactory and their being satisfied/disatisfied with the working conditions and their marital status were observed to be important predictors on life satisfaction.
The following suggestions can be presented in parallel with the results of the research. At Psychological Counseling and Guidance Departments of Education Faculties, lessons to enable the students to acquire the coping strategies skills and to develop better professional efficiency can be placed in the curriculum and the syllabuses of both under and post graduate educations. Necessary precautions should be taken to lessen the professional fatigue of the school psychological counselors and provide a positive working environment. Besides, this research was conducted with the school psychological counselors working at the schools within the Province of İzmir. For that reason, generalization of the findings of this study is restricted to the population of the study. It is advised that similar studies can be conducted with psychological counselors working in different parts of the country with larger populations.

SUMMARY
PARTNER SELECTION AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS
İbrahim Yıldırım

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in criteria for partner selection. In addition, it aimed at investigating the degree of applicability of two theoretical approaches (evolutionary perspective, and social role theory) to the Turkish culture. There is a lack of studies with Muslim populations in the current literature. Thus, a third effort of the study was to contribute to the enrichment of literature on partner selection.
Partner selection is a critical decision making which has implications for one’s status in the society, life style and future. In this study, the term partner selection is used to refer to one’s choosing of a spouse. By deciding on a person to marry to, an individual makes a decision about whom to live with, have kids with, and whom to continue his or her personal growth with.
Since Darwin (1871) who was the first to propose models of partner selection, there have been many who have attempted to examine the complex processes of selection of a spouse (Buss & Barnes, 1986; Buss, Abbott, Angleitner, Asherian, Biaggio, Blanco-Villasenor, et al., 1990; Feingold, 1992; Doosje, Rojahn & Fischer, 1999; Todosijevic, Ljubinkovic, & Arancic, 2003). These researchers offered theories of criteria with which males and females choose marital partners. Particularly, the last 25 years have witnessed a great deal of studies. One common finding of most of these studies, which were done with individuals from Western cultures, is that they emphasize the importance of similarities between potential partners (Buss, Abbott, Angleitner, Asherian, Biaggio, Blanco-Villasenor, et al., 1990). In addition, a common discrepancy between males and females has been about socioeconomic statues and physical attractiveness. Namely, while females care a great deal about a potential spouse’s economic and social standing, males give far more priority to physical attractiveness. (Buss, 1998, 1989; Townsend & Levy, 1990; Buss & Schmitt, 1993; Todosijevic, Ljubimkovic & Arancic, 2003). In fact, both genders seem to consider socioeconomic status and physical attractiveness as important criteria in partner selection. However, the degree to which they emphasize each of these qualities differ (Buss, 1987). These gender differences have been confirmed in cross-cultural studies (Buss, 1994, 1989). Along with the work focusing on gender differences, there have been studies that found variations in criteria for partner selection according to age, educational level, political orientation (Doosje, Rojahn & Fischer, 1999). The most essential discussion and inquiry in research on partner selection focuses on what to attribute gender differences to (Doosje, Rojahn & Fischer, 1999; Todosijevic, Ljubinkovic, & Arancic, 2003 ). There are two major camps in this discussion; (1) the Evolutionary Perspective, and (2) the Social Role Theory. According to the evolutionary perspective, the most important drive in partner selection is the potential for reproductive success. On the other hand, the social role theory basis partner selection on the differing rol acquired by males and females through gendered socialization. Yet, both approaches emphasize female preference for material resources and male preference for physical attractiveness. However, each approach differs in how they explain these preferences. The evolutionary perspective views gender as the determining factor, whereas the social role theory attributes these differences to the differing social roles societies assign to males and females.

METHOD
This study was conducted with students attending to Hacettepe University, Ankara Turkey during the academic year of 2003-2004. The participants were seniors majoring in fields of health, physical, and social sciences. As mentioned above, the rational for choosing seniors was due to the fact that the Turkish culture encourages marriage after graduation. A total of 1126 students participated. Of those, 732 were females (65%) and 394 were males (35 %). Their ages ranged from 21 to 28, with a mean age of 21.8. All of them were single (unmarried). All the participants indicated that they intended to get married. Students with no plans of marriage were not included in the study. All the respondents voluntarily participated in the study. The emerging list consisted of 100 characteristics; 50 desirable and 50 undesirable. For the emerging lists a 9-10 point Likert scale was determined. A 10-point Likert scale was used for the positive characteristics. Respondents were asked to rank each characteristic from 1 to 10 (1= Not desirable at all; 10= Very desirable). For the negative characteristics a 9-point Likert scale was used (responses were to range from 1= May be Acceptable; to 9= Absolutely not Acceptable).

RESULTS
There were statistically significant differences between males and females on 43 of the 50 desirable attributes. On only 3 of these qualities males scored higher than females (tidy, prudential, virginity). On the rest of 40 items female scores were higher. No significant gender differences were found regarding 7 of the items on this list (emotional health, cleanness, knowledge in child-raring, physical attractiveness, heterosexuality, similar age, and religious). There were considerable differences in raw scores of males and females. Unlike previous research findings, these results indicate considerable gender differences in partner selection behavior of Turkish college students.
Both males and females had high scores on all the desirable characteristics. High scores could be indicative of the high importance Turkish people attribute to marriage. Furthermore, females do seem to be highly more meticulous than their male counterparts in their partner selection. Both genders seem to be more concerned about characteristics that will foster a long lasting marriage. Turkish college students seem to care about reliability, honestly, respectfulness, and understanding in marital partners more so than they do for his or her financial prospect.
Items indicative of males’ potential for material resources were not ranked among the most desirable 20 attributes. On the other hand, females did score higher on items such as “intelligence, economic independence, wealthy, and physical strength.” Sexes did not differ on preferences of “physical attractiveness.” Male scores were higher on “tidy, prudential, and virginity,” whereas, female scores were higher on “similar political view, same religion, and same ethnic background.” These findings point to females’ fears and concerns about the destiny of a marriage.
Females scored higher than males on 42 of the 50 undesirable attributes. Although male scores were also high, the stronger emphasize of females on these qualities could be interpreted as males’ willingness to be more tolerant about certain undesirable qualities.
The results of this study supported both the evolutionary and social role theories. However, they seem to emphasize the social role theory more strongly. More research with various cultures is needed to further test the applicability of these two approaches. Similarly, these findings could be tested with samples of junior year college students, and those in earlier educational levels in order to test for changes over time. Moreover, comparisons could be made with samples of married, unemployed, high school graduates, and employed persons.

SUMMARY
VOCATIONAL MATURITY AND CAREER INDECISION RELATIONS WITH IRRATIONAL BELIEF
Zeynep Hamamci Aysel Esen Çoban
According to career development theorists, individuals who are in different career development period should fulfill some development task. Vocational maturity is related with completing successfully career development duties. If individuals did not complete career development duties successfully, they may not make rational and correct career decisions.
Recently, many studies in literature related to vocational guidance emphasized that irrational beliefs regarding career choice play a significant role in career decision. For example, Sounders, Peterson, Sampson and Reardon (2000) found that irrational career beliefs predicted career indecision significantly. In addition, it was found that there was a high and positive correlation between irrational career beliefs and career indecision (Dipeolu, Reardon, Sampson, Burkhead, 2002; Kleiman, Gati, Peterson, Sampton, Reardon and Lenz, 2004; Osborn, 1998). However, there was a limited research in the literature on career maturity level and irrational beliefs (Luzzo and Smith, 1998).
Despite the fact that, career maturity, career indecision and irrational beliefs have been studied separately in the literature since 1990’s in Turkey, there is no study about the relationship among irrational beliefs and vocational maturity and career indecision. For that reason, the relationship among irrational beliefs, vocational maturity and career indecision of high school students were examined in this study.
METHOD
A total of 282 high school students (F=166, 58.09%; M=116, 41.1%) were participated to the study in Gaziantep. The age range of the group was between 14 and 17. The age mean of the group was 15.78. 88 (31.2%) students attended to preparatory class, 83 (29.4%) students attended to 9th grade, and 111 (39.4%) students attended to 10th grade. Also, most of the students (66.7%) mentioned that they did not get any help about vocational choice from counselors. In this research, the Vocational Maturity Scale, developed by Kuzgun and Bacanlı (1996) was administered to the students. Also, the Career Indecision Inventory which was developed by Çakır (2003) was used to evaluate students’ career indecision levels. In order to identify students’ irrational beliefs, the Irrational Belief Scale, developed by Türküm, Balkaya and Karaca (2005), was used.
In the study, the relations among vocational maturity, career indecision and irrational beliefs of the students were analyzed by Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Also, regression analysis was used to find out whether irrational beliefs predict vocational maturity and career indecision significantly.

RESULTS
In this study, it was found that there were low correlations among general irrational beliefs, vocational maturity, and career indecision. Yet, it was found that the correlation between irrational career beliefs and career indecision was positive and high. Moreover, irrational career beliefs were negatively and moderately correlated with vocational maturity. Further, it was found beliefs regarding career choice related to career indecision rather than vocational maturity. The result of regression analysis showed that general irrational beliefs predicted vocational maturity and career indecision with low level. However, career irrational beliefs predicted 55% of career indecision and 26% of vocational maturity.

DISCUSSION
In accordance with the results, it was concluded that career indecision and vocational maturity were mostly related to career irrational beliefs rather than general irrational beliefs. In other words, when individuals have a high level of career irrational beliefs, the level of their career indecision increases, but the level of vocational maturity of the individuals decreases. This finding is consistent with findings of Dipeolu, Reardon, Sampson, Burkhead (2002), Kleiman, Gati, Peterson, Sampton, Reardon and Lenz (2004), and Osborn (1998). In schools, counselors can find out students having a high level of irrational career beliefs and they can try to change irrational career beliefs of student through individual and group guidance activities. In future studies, specific scales which measure irrational beliefs related to vocational choice can be developed.

SUMMARY
EXAMINING THE PREDICTORS OF SUBJECTIVE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Fulya Cenkseven Turan Akbaş

Well-being is complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning. Current research on well-being has been derived from two main approaches: subjective well-being and Ryff’s (1989) psychological well-being. In the opinion of Keyes, Shmotkin and Ryff (2002), subjective well-being and psychological well-being are related to each other even though these two notions contain different parts of psychological health. Furthermore, many researchers have considered subjective and psychological well-being together as a multi-dimensional phenomenon. Thus, it is advisable to hold these two approaches together in order to examine positive psychological health as a whole and as from various dimensions.
Subjective well-being is interested in why individuals evaluate their lives in positive ways (Diener, 1984). Subjective well-being has two general compenents: Emotional and cognitive. The emotional component consists of positive and negative affects while the cognitive component is related with the individual’s life satisfaction (Diener & Larsen, 1993; Diener & Suh, 1997; Pavot et al, 1991; Schimmack et al, 2002).
Ryff (1989a) has suggested that subjective well-being has not been planned to define the basic structure of psychological well-being. According to Ryff (1989a), psychological well-being is a multi-dimensional construct which is made up of life attitudes. It is also noted that there are not theory-based approaches that explain psychological well-being and so she has proposed her own model called multi-dimensional psychological well-being. The model is mainly based on theoretical explanations about positive psychological health of personality theories by Maslow, Jung, Rogers, Allport, Erikson, Buhler, Neugartens, and Jahoda. The model suggested by Ryff consists of six psychological dimensions which are self acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations with others, environmental mastery and autonomy (Ryff, 1989a, 1989b; Ryff & Keyes, 1995; Keyes, Shmotkin & Ryff, 2002).
In order to determine the notions and sources related to subjective well-being and psychological well-being, many studies have been conducted. Extraversion and neurouticism were found to be most significant predictors of subjective and psychological well-being in these studies (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998; Diener et al, 1999; Schmutte & Ryff, 1997). Locus of control is another notion which is related to subjective and psychological well-being (Emmons & Diener, 1985; Heackhausen & Schulz, 1995; Lachman & Weaver, 1998, Malki, 1998). Apart from these, learned resourcefulness, strategies to cognitively cope with stressful life affairs is thought to be related to both subjective and psychological well-being. Studies have shown that the perceived satisfactions of family, friendship, and love affairs are among the predictors of subjective well-being (Cooper et al., 1995; Cheng & Furnham, 2003; Argyle & Lu, 1990a; Harlow & Cantor, 1996; Mancini & Orthner, 1980).
The present study aims to determine the rate of how university students’ subjective and psychological well-being are predicted by their level of extraversion, neurouticism, locus of control, learned resourcefulness, socio-economic status, gender, health situations and satisfaction of social interactions, recreation activities and academic conditions.

METHOD
The university students who attended Çukurova University during 2002-2003 constituted the population of the study. The sample of the study is formed by the students of all faculties at Çukurova University who were chosen with cluster sampling method. The study was conducted with 500 students, 205 of whom were female and 295 of whom male.
“Scales of Psychological Well-Being” were used to determine the level of their psychological well-being. Similarly; in order to determine their subjective well-being level, both “Positive-Negative Affect Schedule” and “Life Satisfaction Scale” were used. “Scales of Psychological Well-Being” were adapted into Turkish culture by the researcher of the study. Besides, “Eysenck Personality Questionnaire” was used to find out extraversion and neurouticism wheareas “Rotter Internal-External Control Scale” was used to measure the students’ locus of control. “Rosenbaum Learned Resourcefulness Inventory” was used to determine their learned resourcefulness. In order to determine the demographic variables a “Personal Information Sheet” was used. The data collected for the research was analyzed by SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Siences). Stepwise Regression was administered to the data.

RESULTS
The result of stepwise regression analyses showed that the variables, in accordance with their contributions to the total variance, neurouticism, extraversion, percevied satisfaction of academic success, learned resourcefulness, perceived satisfaction of interaction with parents and dates, socio-economic status, gender, perceived health conditions, external locus of control, perceived satisfaction of recreation activities were, respectively, significant predictors of subjective well-being. All the variables mentioned explained 63.9 % of the total variation. However, at the end of the analyses, it was found out that the satisfaction with the interaction of friends was not a significant predictor of subjective well-being.
As for the results of the stepwise regression analyses, it was found that, in accordance with their contributions to the total variance, the variables of learned resourcefulness, extraversion, neurouticism, perceived satisfaction of the interactions with dates and friends, external locus of control, gender, perceived satisfaction of interactions with parents and recreation activities, respectively, were significant predictors of psychological well-being. It was reported that these variables explained 59 % of the total variation. However, the results of the analyses, reveal that perceived healthiness, socio-economic status and academic achievements did not significantly predict psychological well-being.

DISCUSSION
According to the results of this study, neuroticism and extraversion were found to be the sources of both subjective well-being and psychological well-being. Findings were consistent with the literature in the field (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998; Diener et al., 1999; Furnham & Cheng, 1999; Schmutte & Ryff, 1997). Learned resourcefulness was determined to be the strongest predictor of psychological well-being. As for subjective well-being, learned resourcefulness is the fourth predictor after neuroticism, extraversion and perceived satisfaction of academic success. The individuals who scored high in learned resourcefulness are effected less by stressors while coping with stress and they experience less psychological problems (Dağ, 1992). Thus, those who have high level of learned resourcefulness are expected to have high subjective and psychological well-being levels.
Friendship is important to meet the social and psychological needs. For this reason, friendship is supposed to predict both psychological well-being and subjective well-being in a significant level. However in this study, it was found that perceived satisfaction with friends of university students predicted psychological well-being significantly, but surprisingly not subjective well-being. The reason of such surprising finding may be that there was only one question measuring perceived friendship satisfaction and the aspects such as the quality of the friendship and the frequency of being with friends were not considered in the study.
Another significant predictor of both psychological and subjective well-being is perceived satisfaction of parental relationship. In many studies, it was discussed that quality of parental relationship effects the individuals’ confidence, flexibility and well-being in the long run (Canetti et al, 1997; Herz & Gullone, 1999; Hopkins & Klein, 1995; Kitamura & Suziki, 1993). The studies mentioned above explained the significance of satisfaction on both psychological and subjective well-being perceived through the parental relationship.
Diener and Fujita (1995) pointed out that there is a corelation between strong romantic relations and subjective well-being. Similarly, in this study, it was recognized that the perceived satisfaction of young people with their dates predicted subjective and psychological well-being.
It was also found that perceived leisure satisfaction significantly predicted subjective and psychological well-being of university students. Moreover, this result was consistent with the findings of many other studies (Argyle & Lu, 1990b; Cheng & Furnham, 2003; Cooper, Okamura & Gurka, 1992).
It was observed that perceived academic success of the university students predicted subjective well-being, but it was not a significant predictor of psychological well-being. It may be claimed that the university students who are satisfied with their academic success will be able to experience more positive affect and have a higher life satisfaction. Argyle (1987) also suggested that performance at school enhances the adjustment and well-being (Argyle, 1996).
Findings showed that university students’ external locus of control decreased their level of subjective and psychological well-being. However, it was also found out that the external locus of control was a more significant predictor of psychological well-being than that of subjective well-being. The studies showed that physical and psychological health and subjective well-being depend on locus of control. (Emmons & Diener, 1985; Heckhausen & Schulz, 1995; Lachman & Weaver, 1998; Lefcourt et al, 1981).
Compton (2000) found out that internal locus of control was a significant predictor of subjective well-being. Cooper and his friends (1995), however, suggested that those who have high levels of psychological well-being also have high levels of internal locus of control.
When looked at demographic variables, it was observed that gender is one of the predictors of both subjective and psychological well-being, but socio-economic status is only a predictor of subjective well-being. It was observed that gender predict significantly but not strongly the subjective and psychological well-being. These results are consistent with the findings of other researches.
It was also found that perceived health condition did not predict the psychological well-being while it was a significant predictor of subjective well-being. Apart from these, the study was conducted on the university students who do nat have, in general, serious health problems. So it may be concluded that the results of the study might have been effected this aspects of the variable.

SUMMARY
DEVELOPING PROCESSES OF VOLTAN ACAR ASSERTIVENESS SCALE
Nilüfer Voltan Acar Tuncay Öğretmen
There are three types of behaviors, assertiveness, aggressiveness and passiveness. These three types of behaviors can also be concidered as personal characteristics.. Assertiveness is to respect the others’ rights , at the same time to respect ones own right. An assertive person can be able receive compliments and at the same time can make compliments. He or she uses I-messages in place of you-messages.He/she makes choices for her/himself. On the other hand aggressive person makes choices for others, can not express his feelings in a proper way, .He/she is impulsive. Passive person lets the others to choose for him/herself. He/she can not express his/her feelings at all.
At the end of 20th century assertiveness has become significant . Assertiveness training is one of the preventive works that are presented to the youth at risk. At the beginning of 21 rst century, ın order to maximize the types of the preventive services assertiveness training has become on fashion, again. Rathus Assertiveness Scale had been utilized in the early 80’s in Turkey Voltan,1979,1980). Thus this scale does not distinquish aggression from assertion. With this need in mind, Voltan Acar Assertive Scale has been developed.

METHOD
Data were collected from the 289 students of Educational Sciences of Hacettepe University. Factor Analysis, test-retest and cronbach alpha coefficient had been found..

RESULTS
The Voltan Acar Scale has 28 items. The points range from 28 to 120. It is a Likert Scale. The scale has two factors, one of which depicts assertiveness, the other of which depicts passiveness, Cronbach Alpha coefficient is .87, and the test retest coefficient is .89

DISCUSSION
After the developing processes of Voltan Acar Assertiveness Scale , it can be said that the validity and the reliability of the scale is high . It can be administered to measure assertiveness. Further studies should be done with the larger sample for different samples such as high school students, working people, etc.