Depression, Need for Social Approval and Loneliness in University Students

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between need for approval and loneliness and depression in university students. The second purpose of the current study is to examine depression, need for social approval and loneliness in relation to some demographic variables. The study was conducted on a total of 249 students (175 females and 74 males) attending the Education Faculty of a university located in the Central Black Sea Region. The current study employed a personal information form, the Beck Depression Inventory, the UCLA Loneliness Scale and the Need for Social Approval Scale to collect data. In order to determine the correlations between depression, loneliness and need for social approval “multiple regression analysis”; in order to determine between-groups differences, “t-test” and “variance analysis” were used. The findings of the study have revealed that loneliness and need for social approval explains 22% of the total variance in depression. In terms of contribution to the model, loneliness was found to be a better predictor of depression than the need for social approval. Depression, loneliness and the need for approval were found to be not varying significantly depending on gender. Only need for social approval was found to be varying significantly depending on both the mother’s and the father’s education level. The findings are discussed focusing on the relationship between loneliness and the need for social approval and depression in university students.