How Does the Social Support Affect Refugees’ Life Satisfaction in Turkey? Stress as a Mediator, Social Aids and Coronavirus Anxiety as Moderators

Eymen Ekmen, Orhan Koçak, Umut Solmaz, Koray Kopuz, Mustafa Z. Younis and Deniz Orman
Additional contact information
Eymen Ekmen: Faculty of Health Science, Istanbul Arel University, 34320 Istanbul, Turkey
Orhan Koçak: Faculty of Health Science, Istanbul University—Cerrahpasa, 34320 Istanbul, Turkey
Umut Solmaz: Seben Izzet Baysal Vocational School, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, 14030 Bolu, Turkey
Koray Kopuz: Niğde Zübeyde Hanım School of Health, Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University, 51100 Niğde, Turkey
Mustafa Z. Younis: College of Health Sciences, Jackson State University, 350 W. Woodrow Wilson Dr., Jackson, MS 39213, USA
Deniz Orman: Çınarcık Vocational School, Yalova University, 77100 Yalova, Turkey

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: The number of refugees has increased exponentially due to international crises, wars, and political pressures in recent years worldwide. Turkey hosts the largest refugee population in the world with 3,672,646 Syrian refugees. This study aimed to examine the relationship among refugees’ stress, life satisfaction, social support, coronavirus anxiety, and social aids they get during the COVID-19 process. We hypothesized that stress, social aids, and coronavirus anxiety could play a role in the relationship between life satisfaction, stress, and social support. A cross-sectional survey was used to collect data from 628 Syrian refugees via an online questionnaire in Turkey. Confirmatory factor, correlation, and multiple regression analyses were conducted. In addition, the moderator and mediator role of variables tested using the 95% bias-corrected confidence interval from 5000 resamples was generated by the bias-corrected bootstrapping method. The study results show that stress partially mediated the relationship between family support and life satisfaction and between friend support and life satisfaction. In addition, coronavirus anxiety had a moderating effect on the relationship between family support and stress and friend support and stress. Finally, social aids moderated the relationship between stress and life satisfaction. In conclusion, the role of social aids, stress, and coronavirus anxiety in the relationship between social support, stress, and life satisfaction has been revealed.

Keywords: Syrian refugees; COVID-19; life satisfaction; social support; perceived stress; social aids (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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