Abstract
In this study, it is aimed to determine which social support systems respectively preferred by students to meet their basic needs. The research was conducted with 347 university students from Sakarya University Faculty of Education, 243 of whom were female and 104 of whom were male. A ranking chart was used to determine the rank of fulfilment of the five basic needs of the students, as in the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, (physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization), by social support systems (family, relatives, friends, teacher-school, and society). The data was analyzed by rank order judgment scaling. As a result of the research, it was found that university students regard family as the primary social support system in meeting all their needs (physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization). The ranking does not change in meeting the needs of safety, love and belonging, and esteem; in meeting the physiological needs, it was observed that relatives are preferred more than friends. Another finding of the research is that in meeting the need for self-actualization, relatives are preferred the least.
Highlights
Research into the underlying factors of human behavior has been the subject of psychology science for many years
This study aims to emphasize the importance of social support systems that exist in the lives of university students in the process of meeting these needs
Calculation of scale values obtained by rank order judgment scaling, were reported only for j and k: stimulus; i: rank value Pj k : The probability that stimulus (j) is preferred over stimulus (k) f ji : Frequency of which the value (i) is given to stimulus (j) fki : Frequency of which the value (i) is given to stimulus (k) physiological needs, and graphs obtained according to scale values for all needs were provided
Summary
Research into the underlying factors of human behavior has been the subject of psychology science for many years. Maslow’s approach to psychological needs is one of the most popular theories in this field (Roediger, Capaldi, Paris, Polivy, & Herman, 1996). Maslow first introduced a hierarchical structure of needs in 1943 and introduced his theory of needs in his book “Motivation and Personality” in 1954 (Maslow, 1970). He argued that there are differences between human motives and animal motives and expressed human motives in the form of a pyramid. At the base of this pyramid are biological motives, and at the top are psychological motives (Cüceloğlu, 2003). It is possible to say that Maslow’s theory is still valid today. The hierarchy of needs can be examined under five headings: physiological needs, need for safety, need for love and belonging, need for self-esteem and need for self-actualization (Plotnik, trans. 2009)
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