Abstract:

The purpose of the current study is to relationships between university students’ need for social approval (sensitivity to others’ judgments, leaving a good impression, social withdrawal) and psychological symptoms (Somatization, obsessive compulsive disorder, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, paranoid symptoms, psychotism) in relation to gender, mother’s education level, father’s education level, birth order and place of birth. In line with its purpose, the study was conducted on 200 students (157 girls; 43 boys) attending the Education Faculty of Amasya University in 2015-2016 academic year. In the current study, Information Collection Form, The Need for Social Approval Scale and SCL-90 Psychological Symptoms Scale were used to collect data. In order to determine between-groups differences, “t-test” and “variance analysis”; to determine the relationships between the need for social approval and psychological symptoms “correlation” analysis were used. The findings of the study revealed that the gender variable significantly affects leaving positive impressions, one of the sub-dimensions of the need for social approval and interpersonal sensitivity and somatization, two of the sub-dimensions of psychological symptoms. It was also found that the place of birth significantly affects social withdrawal, one of the sub-dimensions of the need for social approval. The correlation analysis conducted to analyze the relationships between the need for social approval and psychological symptoms revealed a significant positive low and moderate relationships. The findings of the current study are discussed in such a manner as to shed light for other research and applications related to the need for social approval and psychological symptoms. 

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