Investigation Within the Framework of Some Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Loneliness and Social Integrity Levels Among Individuals Who Lived in Orphanage

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the levels of loneliness and social integration within the framework of some socio-demographic characteristics of individuals who lived in orphanages during childhood and/or adolescence period. The sample of the study consisted of 158 participants who were members of the associations (in Sivas, Malatya and Gaziantep cities) established by the individuals who were separated from the orphanage, and 82.9% (n= 131) were male, and 17.1% (n = 27) were female. Data collection tools, Personal Information Form, which consist socio-demographic characteristics, UCLA Loneliness Scale, which was developed by Russel, Peplau and Ferguson (1978) and adapted to Turkish by Demir (1989), and Social Integration Scale, which was developed by ？im？ek and ？im？ek (2013). In the findings obtained in the study, it was found that there was a negative correlation between loneliness and social integration and social integration decreased as loneliness increased. Also, gender, education level, and marital status groups differ significantly regarding loneliness variable; The differences between males and females and marital status groups were found to be significant. On the other hand, it was determined that the differences in the loneliness and social integration variables were not significant between the age groups and the length of stay in the orphanages. Again, it was found that there was no significant difference in terms of social integration mean scores of the groups classified according to the level of education