Life Skills as a Predictor of Psychological Well-Being of Pre-Service Pre-School Teachers in Turkey

This study aims to investigate the relationship between pre-service pre-school teachers' life skills and psychological well-being and to determine whether or not various variables related to pre-service pre-school teachers (gender, age, grade level, type of instruction, cumulated grade point average, status of taking course about life skills) and their life skills significantly predict their psychological well-being. In this quantitative study with correlational design, data were gathered from 391 pre-service pre-school teachers studying at a state university, with 5-point Likert-type Life Skills Scale developed by Bolat and Balaman (2017); 7-point Likert-type Psychological Well-being Scale developed by Diener, Wirtz, Tov, Kim-Prieto, Choi, Oishi and BiswasDiener (2010) and adapted into Turkish by Telef (2013). Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, canonical correlation and hierarchical regression. It is concluded that pre-service pre-school teachers' psychological well-being levels are relatively high and that the life skill they developed most is communication and interpersonal relationships. Canonical correlation results indicate that there is a medium-level relation between life skills and psychological well-being and that psychological well-being is significantly predicted by gender, age, and the following life skills: "empathy and self-awareness", "decision-making and problem-solving", "creative and critical thinking". [Paper presented at the First International Science and Education Congress held in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey on March 23-25, 2018.]