A Comparison of the Life Satisfaction and Hopelessness Levels of Teacher Candidates in Turkey

Abstract

This study aims to explore the level of hopelessness and life satisfaction of teacher candidates from the view points of gender and branch variables. With this aim, the “Beck Hopelessness Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale” has been applied to a total of 278 teacher candidates, of which 133 were females and 145 were males. According to the results of the Independent Samples t-test, there was no statistically significant difference at the level of hopelessness and life satisfaction of male and female students (p>0.05), whereas, there was a statistically significant difference between hopelessness levels (p<0.05) according to the branch variables. In this study, the hopelessness level of the physical education and sports teaching students has been found to be lower when compared to the CET and PMT departments’ students. Besides, when all the teacher candidates were considered, there was a negative correlation in the medium level between their hopelessness levels and life satisfaction levels (p<0.05). Key words: Teacher candidates, hopelessness, life satisfaction, teaching profession.