SELF-CONSTRUAL AMONG YOUTH OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN TURKEY AND THE CENTRAL ASIAN TURKIC REPUBLICS

The difference between the autonomous self and the relational self can be briefly described as how the self is constructed as "me" rather than "us" cognitively. Autonomous self is about individual being different from others or being unique whereas relational self refers to the fact that individual exists along with others, resembles the group and is worthwhile when together with the group. This research aimed to identify the similarities and differences among self-structures of the Turkish, Azeri, Kyrgyz and Uzbek youth. The study group of the research having used the relational survey method was composed of 758 students of ages varying between 20 and 26 years who were studying in the third and fourth grades at Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University and had graduated from the university in the last three years. The Self-Construal Scale developed by Singelis (1994) (2000) and adapted to Turkish by Kurt (2000) was used in the research. It was found in the research that independent self-construal was dominant among Turkish, Azeri, Kyrgyz and Uzbek university students and there was no significant difference among the university students of the four countries by independent self-construal. Relational self-construal was most prevalent among the Uzbek students while least prevalent among the Turkish students. In comparison between the female and male students of each country, a significant difference was found between the female and male students in independent self-construal in the Turkish sample, and no significant difference was observed between the genders in the Azeri, Kyrgyz and Uzbek samples. Whereas no significant difference was found among the students of the four countries in the primacy of self and behavioural consistency subscales of independent self-construal, the Turkish and Azeri sample had significantly higher scores than the Kyrgyz and Uzbek sample in individualism. In the subscale of autonomy/assertiveness, a significant difference was observed between the Turkish and Uzbek students. As for the relational self-construal subscales, the Uzbek students had significantly higher scores than the Turkish students in esteem for group. In relational interdependence, the Uzbek students had the highest mean, while the Turkish students had the lowest mean. The research findings were discussed within the framework of the information obtained from the relevant literature