Examining effect of participating to recreational activities on loneliness level of middle school students

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate middle school students' loneliness level according to participating in recreation activities, the way of participation in recreation activities, and the gender and marital status of the parents. The study sample consisted of voluntarily participated 330 students (184 females and 146 males). The easy sampling method preferred in the present study. The face-to-face survey method was used to collect the data. In the study ‘UCLA Loneliness Scale’ developed by Russell et al. [7] and adapted to Turkish by Demir [2] and a questionnaire form consisting of 4 questions developed by the researcher are used as data gathering tool. The data obtained for the research were first transferred to the computer and then analyzed by the SPSS program. The error margin level in the study was taken as p < 0.05. The Cronbach alpha of the study was found to be 0.80. As a result, there were not any significant differences between loneliness level of participant and their gender (p>0.05). But between the participant's loneliness level and participating in recreation activities, the way of participation in recreation activities and the marital status of the parents, there were statistically significant results (p<0.05).