The Prediction of Separation-Individuation in Turkish Late Adolescents through Five Factor Personality Dimensions

WOS: 000319393600002Problem Statement: Individual personality traits of adolescents become significant when they are in the process of separation-individuation from parents. While adolescents undergo their separation-individuation process, they also have to express their own consistent thoughts, feelings and actions as an individual. During this process an adolescent's stable personality tendencies may have a significant role in their separation-individuation process. Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study is to explain the relationship between five factor personality dimensions and the separation-individuation process in terms of how five factor personality dimensions predict the separation-individuation of Turkish late adolescents aged 18-25. This research was designed as a cross-sectional study. In this study, Convenience Sampling Method was used. Method: The study group consisted of a total of 233 first- to fourth-year students studying at Ankara University, Hacettepe University, and Kirikkale University during the spring semester of the 2009-2010 academic year. The points that were obtained from the three scales were analyzed through SPSS 11.5 and the total points of the scales were found in the data analyses. Findings and Results: Extraversion positively and significantly affects separation anxiety and peer enmeshment. Agreeableness negatively and significantly affects engulfment anxiety, denial of need, teacher enmeshment, rejection expectancy, and practicing-mirroring. Emotional instability/Neuroticism negatively and significantly affects teacher enmeshment and practicing-mirroring. There is a positive relationship between separation individuation and peer enmeshment, practising mirroring, and the extraversion dimension; on the other hand, there is a negative relationship between rejection expectancy and the extraversion dimension. Conclusions and Recommendations: Counseling programs can be prepared and applied in order to increase extraversion, which is one of the dimensions of personality traits, to increase openness to experience and agreeableness, and to prevent separation-individuation problems that students encounter. In this way, the separation-individuation process of students will be supported by personality dimensions