Abstract:

This research aims to examine the predictive power of attachment styles (safe, fearful, obsessive, indifferent) and academic achievement averages on the compassion of university students. The study also examines whether university students show difference in terms of safe attachment style and compassion scores with their birth order and perceived parental attitudes. Erzincan University students who are studying in the spring semester of 2015-2016 academic year constitute the study's universe. The study sample consisted of 264 students, 145 of whom were female (54.9%) and 119 of whom were male (45.1%), selected by cluster sampling method. The age of the students constituting the sample group varies from 18 to 31 (=21,63 Ss= 1.93). Relationship Scale Questionnaire, Compassion Questionnaire and personal information form were used as data collection tools in the research. According to the findings obtained from the research; Safe and fearful attachment styles and academic achievement averages were found to be a significant predictor of compassion together ( =.38). In addition, in terms of the birth order, it was detected that the students of middle child had a higher level of safe attachment style scores than those of the students of single child. It was found that compassion scores of the first child, the middle child and the last child was significantly higher than that of single-child students. As the last finding of the research, in terms of perceived parental attitudes, safe attachment style and compassion points of students having the overpowering-authoritarian perceived parental attitude were found to be significantly lower than university students with other parental attitudes.

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