Psychological and Familial Factors as Predictors of First Year University Students’ Positive Orientation

This study examined the effects of psychological (life satisfaction, depression, social support) and familial factors (the size of family, family structure, education levels of parents) on first-year university students’ positive orientation. Positive orientation is an important element of life balance and expresses the positivity and attitudes of individuals towards life and themselves. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the extent to which psychological and familial factors predicted PO. The results indicated that the model was significant and psychological and familial factors accounted for 44% of the variation in PO. Life satisfaction had the strongest and positive contribution to the PO. The perceived social support and depression level had the second and third highest contributions to the PO score, respectively. Findings showed that students raised in a matriarchal family had higher PO score than students raised in a patriarchal family. Also, having a single-parent family resulted in lower PO score than having a nuclear family.