Self, identity, and emotional well-being among Turkish university students

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to identify indigenous or emic domains of self-descriptions and to investigate identity orientations among urban middle-upper socioeconomic status Turkish university students. The relationships between emotional wellbeing, self-descriptions, and identity orientations, as well as the gender differences in these variables, were also explored. The 205 participants (mean age of 20.35) found independent and relational-interdependent aspects of the self and identity more descriptive than the collective or interdependent aspects. Significant gender differences were found between independent and collective-interdependent aspects of the self. Specifically, women reported more Personal Identity and more Social Influencability and less Traditionalism and Openness and Creativity-related self-definitions than did men. Finally, emotional well-being was positively associated with all types of identity orientations as well as with independent and relational-interdependent domains of self-descriptions. The results are discussed with reference to the studies of self-concept in the literature and the existing social change in Turkish society.