Abstract:

In the present study, it was aimed to determine the personality traits that accompany the behavior of foster families and reveal the personality traits profiles of the individuals. The present study is descriptive and cross-sectional. The population of the study consisted of foster parents around Turkey and sample selection was not made. The participants were reached through the snowball sampling method. The study data was collected from 124 volunteering foster parents using the face-to-face interview method. Data collection was performed via questionnaire forms and the Five-Factor Personality Inventory. In data analysis; mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage values and the comparative statistical, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wlallis H, Tamhane's T2 tests were used. It was determined that 67.7% of the participating foster parents were in the age group of 45 and over, with an age average of 48.37±9.36. The Five-Factor Personality Inventory item score average of the participants was 3.58±0.31. The participants had a score average of 3.88±0.61 from the Conscientiousness/Self-Discipline sub-dimension and 4.10±0.50 from the Agreeableness/Compliance sub-dimension. It was determined that there was a significant relationship between age groups and Openness/Openness to Experience and between educational backgrounds and Openness/Openness to Experience, Extraversion and the Five-Factor Personality Inventory item total score average. There was also a significant relationship between the presence of biological children and the sub-dimension of neuroticism (p< .05). In the present study, it was determined that the foster families primarily possess the personality trait of Agreeableness/Compliance, followed by Conscientiousness/Self-Discipline. As a result of the study, it can be said that it is important to pay attention to the personality traits of potential foster parents, make certain psychometric evaluations in advance to determine their personality traits accordingly, and support foster families based on these.

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