Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
İlgün Dibek M., Karaman N.(Yürütücü)
AB Destekli Diğer Projeler, 2023 - 2024
In Türkiye, as in many other countries, large-scale empirical data on adolescents' life skills has been scarce. To address this gap, this Project was conducted by UNICEF Türkiye, in collaboration with Ankara University to assess life skills and citizenship education among Turkish adolescents. This interdisciplinary effort, involving experts from educational psychology, counseling, and educational measurement, aimed to adapt and validate life skills scales for Turkish secondary school students, providing a comprehensive understanding of these skills across the country.
The study focused on 7th-grade students from seven cities, representing various regions based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS-I). Data collection occurred in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara, Antalya, Samsun, Erzurum, and Şanlıurfa, using seven different booklets, each containing items related to two life skill subscales. The adaptation process involved a pilot study followed by the main data collection, with careful translation and cultural adjustment of the scales.
To ensure validity and reliability, extensive psychometric analyses were conducted. Unidimensionality was tested for each skill, revealing that most skills were unidimensional, except for decision-making and negotiation, which showed two-dimensionality. Item response theory (IRT) models, including Rasch, Graded Response Model (GRM), and Generalized Partial Credit Model (GPCM), were used to assess item fit, with GRM being the best fit for most skills. For two-dimensional skills, two-dimensional IRT models were applied, yielding superior goodness-of-fit values. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) was analyzed for gender differences, and items displaying significant DIF were reviewed by experts.
The findings provide the first large-scale empirical insights into the life skills of Turkish adolescents, laying the groundwork for potential interventions to promote life skills education in schools across Türkiye. This data is crucial for informing educational policies and support systems aimed at equipping young people with the necessary skills to navigate the challenges of contemporary life.