Turkish Community Research Articles

VALUES EDUCATION IN ISPARTA LEGEND

Değerler, içinde yaşanılan toplumun maddi manevi kültürel olgularını kapsayan ve toplumu ideal olana yönlendiren niteliklerdir. Toplumsal kültürün esasını oluşturan bu nitelikler adeta toplumda sosyal kontrolü sağlamakla görevli kılınmışlardır. Birlik ve beraberlik içerisinde sürekliliğini sağlamak isteyen toplumlar barındırdıkları bu değerleri gelecek nesillere aktarmak durumundadırlar. Böylece toplumdaki değerler mekanizmasının işlerliği kazandırılarak toplumun daha yaşanabilir bir hale getirilmesi ilk hedeftir. Bu toplumsal aktarımda ve hedefte Türk halk edebiyatının mahsullerinden olan efsaneye büyük rol düşmektedir. Efsanelerin gerek gerçeklikle olan ilişkisi gerekse eğitsel ileti yönü efsaneleri geçmişten günümüze kültür taşıyıcısı konumuna getirmektedir. Nitekim efsaneler toplumun aynası, bizi biz yapan değerlerin yansıtıcısıdır. Tarihsel süreç içerisinde toplum hafızasına kazınan efsaneleşmiş hikâyeler, değerleri içselleştirerek toplumun uzantıları haline gelmişlerdir. Türk toplum eğitiminin devamlılığını ve işlevselliğini sürdürmek için kısa ve yoğun öğretilere sahip değerli bir kaynak olan efsanelerimize gereken önemi vermek gerekmektedir. Günümüz Türkiye’sinde de bu değerlerin eksikliği hissedilmeye başlanmıştır. Biz de bu çalışmamızda Isparta yöresinden derlenen efsaneleri eğitsel iletiler ve değerler eğitimi açısından incelemeye çalıştık.

KAZAK ŞEŞENDİK SÖZLERİNİN İŞLEVLERİ ÜZERİNE BİR İNCELEME

Bir toplumun hayatı algılayışı ve buna bağlı yaşam tarzı temelinde binlerce yılda biçimlenen kültürel kodlarının gelecek nesillere aktarılmasında en önemli rolü sözlü gelenek içinde oluşan kalıp sözler ve anlatılar üstlenir. Yazılı geleneğin henüz yaygınlaşmadığı dönemlerde Kazak Türklerinin hayvancılığa dayalı bozkır hayatının şartlarına bağlı coğrafya ve boylar esasında oluşturdukları Cüzler sistemine dayanan toplumsal yapılanma Kazak kimliğinin, hayat anlayışının ve kültürünün kendine has yönler geliştirmesine zemin hazırlamıştır. Bu çerçevede Türk kültür ve medeniyet dairesi içinde yer almakla birlikte kendine has geliştirdikleri yaşam biçiminin, toplumsal norm ve anlayışların izlerini Kazak Türklerinin sözlü edebiyat geleneği ürünleri içerisinde tespit etmek mümkündür. Kazak Türklerinde sözlü gelenek içinde yer alan önemli türlerden birisi de ‘Şeşendik Sözler’dir. Edebiyat araştırmalarında başlangıçta “biylik/beylik söz” olarak adlandırılan bu türe ait ürünler, “Biylik/ Beylik” ifadesinin eski Kazak toplum düzenini/feodaliteyi çağrıştırdığı gerekçesiyle Sovyet kültür politikalarına ters görülerek Sovyet Döneminde “şeşendik söz” olarak adlandırılmıştır. Şeşendik sözler, biyler/şeşenler tarafından söylenip ya yalın biçimiyle ya da şahıslar etrafında hikâyeleştirilmiş anlatılar içinde yer alarak halk arasında nesilden nesile aktarılan bilgelik sözlerdir. 
 İşlevsel Halkbilimi Kuramı halkbilimi çalışmalarında günümüzde en yaygın olarak kullanılan teorilerden biridir. Folklor ürünlerinin işlevleri üzerine bir model oluşturan W. Bascom folklorun çok sayıdaki işlevi arasında önemli gördüğü dört işlevden bahseder. İlhan Başgöz de bu dört işleve beşinci olarak “protesto işlevi”ni ilave der. Bu çalışmada W. Bascom’un tespit ettiği folklorun dört işlevi ve İlhan Başgöz’ün ilave ettiği “protesto işlevi” ışığında Kazak Türklerinin şeşendik sözleri incelenmiştir. Çalışmanın sonucunda, şeşendik sözlerin, William Bascom ve İlhan Başgöz’ün ifade ettikleri; değerlere, toplum kurallarına ve törelere destek verme; eğitim veya kültürün gelecek kuşaklara aktarılarak gençlerin eğitilmesi; kişisel ve toplumsal baskılardan kaçıp kurtulma ve protesto işlevini yerine getirdiği görülmüştür.

The Expansion of Turkey’s Medical Tourism Industry

The Expansion of Turkey’s Medical Tourism Industry

The Role of Outgroup Network in the Choice of Migration Destination: Evidence from Turkey

We analyse the association between cultural contact and international migration decision drawing on the inter-group contact hypothesis. Using data on Turkish migrant stock in 22 countries and immigration from these countries to Turkey between 2000 and 2015, we find a strong association between the Turkish community's size and migration flow of host country nationals to Turkey. Our results are robust to country-specific and year-specific effects as well as to exclusion of different channels of cultural contact. Our research brings a new perspective to the importance of networks in migration destination as most research focuses on the presence of in-group national community in the target country. Our findings contribute to the improvement of extant theories of international migration providing insight in the role of cultural contact with the out-group in the choice of migration destination.

Transnational Turkish–German community in limbo. Consequences of political tensions between migrant receiving and sending countries

AbstractA profound political tension between Turkey and Germany has gained an overall dimension on the political agenda of the intra‐European migration discussion since 2016. As close trade partners, Turkey and Germany became gradually political adversaries on different issues. 2016 and the following years marked a turnover in the already worsened mutual relations. A series of political issues such as recognising the Armenian genocide in 1915, open allegations and critical views against the Turkish President and prohibition of election campaigns for Turkish government politicians in Germany had driven political relations between the two countries to nadir. This obscure situation led the Turks of Germany (The phrases “Turks of Germany” or “Turkish migrants” are persons with migration background from Turkey who still bear Turkish citizenship or formerly were Turkish citizens. This group's ethnic or confessional identity is not recognised; their legal status and country of origin are preponderant.), who have close ties to their ancestors’ homeland and consider Germany as the centre of their lives, nolens volens into a limbo situation. Within the “guest‐worker program” framework in the second part of the 20th century, highly industrialised countries of Western Europe recruited migrant workers from different countries. This workforce should perform mostly blue‐collar labour in the receiving countries. After six decades of Turkish presence in Germany, the grandsons and granddaughters of the former guest workers are well‐represented in almost every sector of the society. However, their loyalty and integrability to the receiving country are challenged by German politics, especially by the governments of conservative chancellor Angela Merkel (2005–2021). If Turks of Germany feel closely connected to Turkey and Turkish culture (Workers from Turkey brought with them to the country of immigration their own “cultural assets”. Those are, language, religious and customary beliefs, social habits, dress, music, literature, social codes and manners, shared history, food, etc. However, migrants in the receiving country undergo a process of hybridity under the influence of the new cultural environment. (Please see: Bhabha [The location of culture, New York, NY: Routledge, 1994]) Culture within the framework of post‐colonialism has also been discussed in Edward W. Said's book “Culture and Imperialism” (Said [Kültür ve Emperyalizm. Kapsamlı Bir Düşünsel ve Siyasal Sorgulama Çalışması. Hil Yayın: İstanbul, 1998]). If Turks of Germany feel closely connected to Turkey and Turkish culture, they are not recognised as integrable members of the society. Identity‐based and culture‐oriented policies inexorably influence the willingness of migrants to feel like equal members in the host society, and it applies even to the new generations with migration backgrounds. The question of migrant integration is the most emotionally debated issue in Germany and seems to be the greatest challenge in the political agenda. Beyond the bilateral Turkish–German issues, the growing xenophobic sentiments, islamophobia and Europe‐wide political populism may cause a persistent bilateral tension in the medium term between the countries and among the transnational and native communities. Anti‐Turkish rhetoric in the media alienates the Turkish community and has a value to jeopardise integration efforts more and more.

Reliability and Validity of Self-Hate Scale in Turkish Community Sample

The purpose of this study was to adapt the self-hate scale (SHS; Turnell et al., 2018) into Turkish in a community sample, and test the validity and reliability of the measure. The study was conducted with 234 individuals. After the translation procedures, the language equivalence was examined, and a significant positive relationship was found between the Turkish and English forms. Findings of the reliability and validity analyses indicated that the Turkish SHS confirmed seven items in one factor with good factor loadings. Good fit values and reliability coefficients were determined with the SHS-Turkish Form. Self-hate was positively correlated with self-disgust, behavior-based self-disgust, physical appearance-based self-disgust, depression, anxiety, and interpersonal sensitivity. Self-hate also indicated a negative correlation with self-compassion. Simple linear regression analyses results showed that self-hate predicted depression, anxiety, and interpersonal sensitivity scores. These results demonstrated that the SHS-Turkish Form can be validly and reliably performed to Turkish culture.

From social capital to social cohesion: Syrian refugees in Turkey and the role of NGOs as intermediaries

ABSTRACT Since the first Syrian refugees arrived in Turkey with the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, NGOs have been a crucial actor in first distributing humanitarian aid and later facilitating refugees’ access to education, employment, and healthcare services. More recently, as intercommunal tension between Syrian refugees and the Turkish community has been increasing, many NGOs shifted their focus in building refugees’ social cohesion in Turkey. This study examines these efforts from a social capital perspective. We interviewed a total of twelve local/national, international and Syrian community-led NGOs working with refugees in İstanbul. We found that the intercommunal activities promoted by NGOs provide a space for both the Turkish and Syrian communities to meet, whose pathways would likely not cross otherwise. However, our study showed serious limitations in building bridging social capital as these activities attract participants already open to intercommunal dialogue and the language barrier hinders the sustainability of the relations. At the same time, however, we found that projects connecting refugees with people or institutions of authority have the potential to enhance social cohesion. These activities can facilitate refugees’ adaptation to the national system, which in turn entails more stable and sustainable relationship with Turkish people.

Family-Mark of Identity and Spirituality of the Turkish Community in Romania

The family is one of the important institutions that has survived from the past to the present. In this paper I will try to present the structure and features of the Turkish family starting from the pre-Islamic, Islamic-Ottoman period until the modern period. The solid family structure and the order played an extremely important role in the mobility of the Turkish nation in a very wide geography that shaped history. To this end, I will provide brief information about the Turkish family, its importance to society, marriage ceremonies, communication between family members and other relatives, as well as some traditions specific to the Turkish family. The social structure of the family, the basic dynamics and the main driving force of society differ from society to society, from culture to culture as we will see also in the Turkish family. The ancient Turks, whose life and culture was nomadic, therefore, the structure and life of the family were modelled according to the conditions of nomadic life. Family members had to fight together against difficult living conditions. In this situation, children, girls and boys, have been involved in adult roles since an early age. In the old Turkish family, the man is a person with important functions and duties and the woman is the foundation of human society. The Turkish family in Romania can be presented from two perspectives: the Ottoman Turkish family and the modern Turkish family. By presenting the two components we will notice that the impact of modernism or rather of post-modernism is making its mark more and more, leading to the loss of traditional values that are intertwined with the spiritual crisis.

The ideal multilingual self of individuals in conflict-affected situations

ABSTRACT Little research has explored individuals’ multilingual selves when learning a language other than English (LOTE) in conflict-affected situations. Therefore, this qualitative study sought to understand the motivation and ultimate vision of a group of internally displaced Syrians learning Turkish as an L3 or L4 in Afrin on the Syrian-Turkish border. The data were collected from the participants’ written narratives and two subsequent rounds of individual online semi-structured interviews. The data suggest that the participants’ desire to learn Turkish ranged from the need to secure a job in Afrin to reasons associated with achieving their ideal selves by imagining themselves working/studying at a Turkish university and being integrated into the Turkish community in future. The participants were proactive agents, recognising that attending Turkish private tutoring courses with under-qualified tutors was not sufficient to improve their language proficiency. They capitalised on the availability of technology-mediated learning artefacts and the support of some informal actors. This qualitative study has pedagogical implications and provides further evidence of the need for SLA research to serve all multilingual people, not just the privileged, by conducing empirical studies in non-affluent geographies.

Da’wah Thoughts of Hasan Al Banna and Said Nursi: A Comparative Research in Islamic Education Perspective

Islamic education has been strongly emphasized in Muslim communities. The quality of education and adherence to the Islamic worldview will shape Muslim personalities towards the true meaning of excellence in this world and the hereafter. This article discusses and introduces the efforts of Tawhid purification in Islamic Education perpsective undertaken by Hassan Al Banna (1906-1949 AD) and Badiuzzaman Said Nursi (1877–1960 AD) to address emergent problems within the Egyptian and Turkish Muslim community in early 20th century whereby the absorption of values and thought outside the authenticity of Islam had successfully influenced society thinking in terms of religious beliefs and practices. Both Hassan Al Banna and Said Nursi therefore offered a solution to this problem by implementing measures to purify tawhid in society. This article analyses their efforts in tawhid purification in the implementation of da’wah dictates in Egypt and Turkey. To achieve this goal, the historical analysis method is utilised to discuss the efforts of Hassan Al Banna and Said Nursi and present critical examination of his efforts to save the tawhid of Muslims and ensure they return to the true teachings of Islam. The results of this analysis highlight Hassan Al Banna and Badiuzzaman Said Nursi as a da’wah figure who contributed to tawhid purification in the Islamic world. The findings at the same time could be used as guidelines for the religious, preachers and researchers to propose tawhid purification as an important da’wah effort in society today.

Turkish Women in Science during the Totalitarian Regime in Bulgaria (Mefkure Mollova, Hayriye Memova, Zineti Nurieva)

The article aims is to trace the life and scientific adaptation of three women from the Turkish community in Bulgaria who were engaged in science during the communist period.They are the only ones from the Turkish community in Bulgaria who during the communist period were engaged in science in the field of humanities. The three have different destinies in science and life, fully determined by the political circumstances and their decisions and choices. Two of them have their scientific careers interrupted - Mefkure Mollova, who refuses to give in to the political pressure of the regime and is expelled from the university and all scientific institutions in the country for the rest of her life; Hayriye Memova, who for a long time follows the rules of the regime until they asked her for an impossible compromise. The third is Zineti Nurieva, who fits into the regime and even supports and works for it. Eventually, all three women complete their scientific and life paths abroad, as emigrants.The study is based on documents from the secret archives of the State Security, memories and personal testimonies. This is so because during the communist regime the documents about the Turks were destroyed and today it’s difficult to find such in the public archives.

The Role of Associations in the Organization of the Muslim Community. The Case of the Association of Graduates of the Muslim Seminary in Dobrudja

This paper addresses an aspect of the institutional history of the Muslim community in Romania. It aims to present how the Association of Graduates of the Muslim Seminary in Dobrudja was established and analyze its purpose and activities. The role of the Association is considered from two perspectives. The establishment of the Association was linked to Emel magazine and the group that published it. This group supported the creation of a Crimean Tatar state in Crimea. However, some of its members tried to solve the problems the Turks and the Tatars in Romania faced. In my paper, I explained the role of the Association in the organization system of Islam in Romania. The organization of the Muslim community was established in the first years after the Russo‑Ottoman War of 1877–1878, after which Dobrudja became part of the Romanian state. Thus, an organizational system similar to the Ottoman one continued after this year. Its central institution was the Muftiate, under whose subordination were the Muslim Communities and the Kadiates. The Muslim Seminary held a special place in this system. It was the only educational institution whose role was to train imams and Turkish language teachers of the Turkish and Tatar community in Romania, recognized and supported by local and central authorities. In this sense, the establishment of the Association of Graduates of the Muslim Seminary in Dobrudja was also a response of the Muslim community members to the new political, demographic, and cultural realities.

Ethnic Identity Construction of Young Turkish Muslims in Britain

This paper examines how young Turkish Muslims in Britain construct their ethnic identity by looking at their relationships with their families, the Turkish community, the host society, and their religious attitudes and practices. The focus of this study is certainly young Turkish Muslims who have been relatively ignored in multicultural British society. By the youth, I refer to the generation who were born in or arrived in Britain at an early age, who live in two different cultural spaces, who are more open to social and cultural changes in their everyday lives — particularly through school, college, and other institutions — than their parents, and who thus construct their ethnic identities through two ‘geopolitical dimensions’: ‘inside-out’ and the ‘outside-in’. This means that the identity process is built, not just in relation to individuals’ relationships with their family, inside the community, and so on, but also in relation to outsiders’ attitudes, treatments, and perceptions. What is important to grasp here is that there is a dynamic interaction from the inside-out and the outside-in. Britain allows one to better explore the effects of these two dimensions on the ethnic identity construction of young Turks. On the one hand, it is home to many social, cultural, political, and religious organisations which are promoted by Turkish communities to circulate and strengthen their identity. On the other hand, it also enables those young people to have relations with the wider society, especially the majority group. Thus, their identity negotiations are influenced both by internal and external forces.A review of the literature demonstrates three primary deficiencies. Firstly, the past research conducted on the issue of young Turkish Muslims’ ethnic identity in Britain is few and far between. Secondly, these studies have overlooked either the internal or external dynamics of that community which significantly influence ethnic identity construction in younger generations. Lastly, these studies, except one, are now over twenty years old. By focusing on the views, feelings, and experiences of young Turkish Muslims in Britain in relation to their families, the Turkish community, the host society, and their religious attitudes and practices, this paper aims to fill these gaps in the literature.This article draws on semi-structured in-depth interviews with young Turkish Muslims who were born in or who arrived in Britain at an early age. Interviews were conducted in London and Bristol between 2016 and 2018 with 14 young Turks and, ranging in age from eighteen to thirty years. I also conducted unstructured interviews with 3 older Turkish people who gave information about the Turkish communities existing in Bristol. The interviews were sampled using the snowball technique, which served the purpose of accessing the participants and establishing trustworthy relations with them. To facilitate the coding of the transcripts, I used NVivo. I employed thematic analysis to identify and analyse patterns of meaning in the dataset.The findings of the research show that the ethnic identity construction of young Turkish Muslims has taken place on a tension line that arises between their own culture and the dominant culture. Most of my young respondents are aware of their ethnic identities and the cultural, social, and religious values which are the building blocks of their identities. Their relationships with the family, Turkish community, friends, and the host society, and their religious attitudes and practices have positively influenced the construction and maintenance of their ethnic identities. In this respect, this study makes a significant contribution to the literature on the ethnic identity formation of young Turkish Muslims in Britain.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Diabetes Distress Scale in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Turkey

The objective of the research was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Diabetes Distress Scale in patients with type 2 diabetes in Turkey.
 Materials and Methods. Our study was conducted between September 2016 and January 2017 and included 170 patients with type 2 diabetes. The Personal Information Form and Diabetes Distress Scale were used as a data collection tool. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 23.0 and SAS package program.
 Results. According to the results of the research, Cronbach’s alpha reliability for the total scale was 0.91. The model fit indices for the revised confirmatory factor analysis model failed to meet the criteria for acceptability: the GFI was 0.8185, the CFI was 0.9316, the Bentler - Bonett (1980) NFI was 0.9005, and the RMSEA was 0.1067. In our study, exploratory factor analysis provided support for the three-factor model: [I] emotional and regimen-related distress, [II] health professional-related distress, [III] diabetes-related interpersonal distress.
 Conclusions. When the translation and cultural adaptation process have been considered, the Diabetes Distress Scale is a valid and reliable tool for the Turkish community. It is recommended to be used in the studies and clinical trials.

Magic and Social Domination in a Rural Turkish Community

A striking feature of social relations in a northwestern Turkish community occurs in the sphere of moral or religious life. While there are many accounts of religious life in the context of official Islamic doctrine, a wide range of less official beliefs and activities are practised along with formai Islam in the community of Sakli. Magic or büyü designates a range of activities with aims and purposes which do not emanate from the authority of orthodoxy. The value and meaning of büyü is located in attempts to subvert or alter situations that are the product offate, or the actions of more powerful actors. In this context this article illustrates how local villagers take their projects to a hoca (lit. religious teacher) who attempts to shape fate more to their liking, for a fee. In their practice of assisting resistance to what is ’written’ in codes or decided by the powerful, hoca often borrow Qur’anic prayers to support their clients’ projects. Written prayers are used as objects that can effect goals, such as protecting villagers from misfortunes, finding ’appropriate’ mates, casting love spells, and occasionally causing harm. I argue that büyü challenges the collusion between official Islamic authority and mainstream local morality.

Cooperation for innovation: more is not necessarily merrier

PurposeEmbracing a large set of innovation objectives and collaborating with diverse partners have been promoted as a means to improve innovation performance. However, empirical evidence on the relationships between breadth of objectives, breadth of cooperation and innovation performance is limited, particularly in the context of emerging economies. A larger number of objectives and cooperation partners inevitably increases the complexity in organizational alignment, and cooperation eventually leads to diminishing returns. This study adds to the debate on the costs and benefits of cooperation for innovation. Understanding the optimal levels of the breadth of objectives and cooperation supports managerial decision-making and productivity in the practice of cooperation for innovation.Design/methodology/approachOperationalizing breadth of innovation objectives and cooperation via the Turkish Community Innovation Survey data, self-reports reflecting 5,863 firm-level responses between 2006 and 2008 are analysed using tobit and probit models. The maximum likelihood estimator is used to find the optimal levels for breadth of objectives and cooperation.FindingsFirms with greater breadth of innovation objectives experience higher innovation performance; those with greater breadth of cooperation also experience higher innovation performance, but our results indicate the existence of optimal levels of breadth for both innovation objectives and cooperation.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors extend the logic that there is no safety in numbers in cooperation for innovation. If the aim is to enhance innovation performance, managers and policymakers need to pay attention to the number of innovation objectives and the amount of cooperation pursued by firms. However, innovation success may be closely associated with a firm's dynamic capabilities and ability to mobilize its resources. Drawing on organizational learning theories, future research could explore why a lower than maximum level of cooperation may be more conducive to reaching levels of enhanced innovation performance and whether this level is influenced by cognitive processes.Originality/valueThe authors draw attention to the ideal number of innovation objectives and number of cooperating partners required to enhance innovation performance, thus contributing to the debate on the complex relationships between innovation, performance and cooperation in the unique setting of a large developing economy.

Disaster Risk Awareness: The Turkish Migrants Living in Northern Italy

In this study, we analysed the socio-demographic characteristics and disaster risk awareness of the Turkish migrants living in northern Italy. We initiated the study with an extensive face-to-face questionnaire with 544 individual respondents. With the help of the questionnaire, we gathered information on the socio-demographic structure of the Turkish community living in the area and the immigrants’ disaster experience, their level of disaster preparedness and disaster risk awareness, and their potential behaviour during an emergency. Additionally, we conducted focus group meetings in Milan, Lecco, Como and Varese with 49 migrants living in the region. In the focus group meetings, we discussed the migrants’ awareness of disasters and potential behaviour patterns during emergencies. We collected the informative booklets and past event reports prepared by civil protection centres and municipalities and used them in focus group meetings to collect participants’ opinions. The results show that the migrant communities’ disaster risk awareness is low, but their capacity to adapt to suddenly changing conditions is higher than presumed.

Adaptation of the Devaluation-Discrimination Scale Into Turkish: A Comprehensive Psychometric Analysis.

The Devaluation-Discrimination Scale (DDS) is among the most frequently used stigma scales for measuring the perception of social stigma related to mental illness. The DDS is also frequently employed to test predictions of modified labeling theory and is modified to use for specific disorders, such as depression, substance abuse, and alcohol use disorders. Although modified versions of the DDS have been subjected to psychometric analyses, the original has never undergone a full psychometric evaluation. Thus, the aim of this study was to comprehensively examine the psychometric properties of the Turkish adaptation of the original DDS, with all positively keyed items, across seven studies in Turkish student and community samples (N = 1,907). The results of the exploratory factor analysis indicated that a one-dimensional factor structure adequately explained the covariation among DDS items in a sample of college students. Moreover, the single-factor structure of the DDS was corroborated, and invariant across sex, age, educational level, mental health diagnosis status, and previous help-seeking experience among Turkish adults. The convergent and divergent validity of DDS scores also were supported by significant correlations in the hypothesized directions with self-stigma (r = .26), social stigma (r = .46), attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help (r = -.24), and intention to seek psychological help scores (r = -.24). The results of the reliability analyses suggested that the DDS has good temporal stability in a 1-month time interval (r = .83, intraclass correlation coefficient = .83) and possesses high to excellent internal consistency reliabilities ranging from .88 to .92 across five studies. The examination of the distribution of total DDS scores indicated that there were no floor and ceiling effects in DDS scores across five different samples. The Turkish adaptation of the original DDS may be used as a valid and reliable scale to measure the devaluation and discrimination perceptions of college students and adults against people with mental illness.

Caregiver’s reports of their children’s psychological symptoms after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and caregiver’s perceived stress in Turkey

Purpose There is limited information about Turkish children’s mental health during the COVID-19 outbreak. Here, in a Turkish community sample, we investigate the psychological symptoms in primary school children after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak according to caregivers and the caregivers’ perceived stress levels. Materials and methods The sample was randomly selected from the primary schools in Denizli, Turkey. Denizli is a large city and the total population is around one-million. The study was conducted online. The caregivers responded to a sociodemographic and daily life during pandemic questionnaire and psychological symptoms screening form (which evaluated whether the children had any newly developed symptoms after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). One-thousand-seven-hundred-ninety-seven people were included in the study. Data was collected between 3 July and 31 August 2020. Results Symptoms such as anhedonia, gets angry easily, fidgets around, sleeping problems, impulsivity, appetite problems, restlessness or nervousness, and feels sad can be seen more frequently than other symptoms in children. Caregivers’ PSS scores were higher in mothers than fathers. An association was found between the PSS scores of the caregivers and all psychological symptoms questioned in the study for children, except for encopresis. Lower education level of the father, lower family income, having a child with a psychiatric disease, impaired sibling relationship, and impaired functionality at home were risk factors for higher caregivers’ PSS scores. Conclusion It may be beneficial to take supportive measures in terms of protecting children’s mental health.

Turks and Other Muslims in the US: An Analysis of Perceptions

Surveys show that, in the United States, Americans have a less favorable view of Muslims due to various reasons as opposed to American Muslims who conversely favor the American state and population. In line with this fact, this study tries to understand whether the Turkish community living in the US has different views about Americans than American Muslims do. This study makes a comparison because not all ethnic groups in the American Muslim community have the same views about Americans. While analyzing the Turkish community’s perceptions, this study also analyzes the views Americans and Muslim Americans have towards each other. The study compares previous surveys with the survey conducted among Turks living in the US and concludes that Muslims generally have the same perceptions regarding Americans. It also reveals that aside from the basic reasons which result in a negative view towards Muslims, being a small community and fragmented are two significant factors that damage the image of Muslims. In addition, it reveals that a lack of knowledge about each other increases negative perceptions.