Abstract:

Social studies takes place in school programs as a course that can contribute to increasing students’ life satisfaction by educating students as socially responsible citizens. Considering the relationship between the life satisfaction of individuals and their social responsibilities, it is noteworthy that life satisfaction may have a mediation role in the relationship between students’ attitudes towards social studies course and their social responsibilities. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the mediation role of life satisfaction in the relationship between middle school students’ attitudes towards social studies lessons and social responsibility. Correlational survey model was employed in the research. The study sample consists of 436 middle school students studying in the 7th grade of state schools in different socio-economic environments. Attitude Scale of Social Studies Course, the Satisfaction with Life Scale for Children and the Social Responsibility Scale for Secondary School Students were used as data collection tools. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation analysis, simple linear regression analysis, Process Macro Model and bootstrap methods were performed for the relationships between variables of the study. The results showed that there is a significant and positive relationship between the attitudes of middle school students towards the social studies course, social responsibility, and life satisfaction. As a result of the study, it was concluded that there is a partial mediation effect of life satisfaction in the relationship between the attitude of middle school students towards the social studies course and their social responsibility. Based on the results of the study, it was suggested for future research that the effect of the variable or variables that could have a full mediator role in the relationship between students' attitudes towards the social studies course and social responsibility could be investigated.