University students' perceptions of virtuous persons in Türkiye: associations with psychological wellbeing, resilience, intolerance of uncertainty, and hopelessness
- 1Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education, Ondokuz Mayis University , ,
- 2Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education, Sakarya University , ,
- 3Gaziantep Provincial Directorate of National Education, Ministry of National Education , ,
Abstract
Introduction: Perceptions of virtuous persons represent an important yet understudied dimension of moral cognition that may be associated with individuals' psychological functioning as well as their developmental and contextual experiences. This study examined university students' perceptions of virtuous persons in relation to demographic characteristics, psychological wellbeing, psychological resilience, intolerance of uncertainty, and hopelessness.
Methods: This cross-sectional correlational study included 1,322 undergraduate students aged 18–32 years enrolled at five universities in Türkiye. Exploratory demographic differences were examined using an independent-samples t-test and one-way analyses of variance, while the unique contributions of the psychological variables were assessed using multiple linear regression.
Results: The regression model was statistically significant and explained 35.9% of the variance in perceptions of virtuous persons. Psychological wellbeing was the strongest positive predictor (β = 0.580, p < 0.001). Intolerance of uncertainty also showed a smaller positive association (β = 0.138, p < 0.001), contrary to the hypothesized negative direction. Psychological resilience and hopelessness did not make significant unique contributions. Exploratory analyses also identified differences according to gender, income level, year of study, and academic achievement, although the effects were modest.
Discussion: The findings indicate that psychological characteristics are not uniformly associated with perceptions of virtuous persons and that psychological wellbeing accounts for most of the model's explanatory contribution. The unexpected positive association between intolerance of uncertainty and perceptions of virtuous persons warrants cautious interpretation. Longitudinal and cross-cultural research is needed to clarify the direction and underlying mechanisms of these associations.
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BibTeX
@article{senturk2026university,
title = {{University students' perceptions of virtuous persons in Türkiye: associations with psychological wellbeing, resilience, intolerance of uncertainty, and hopelessness}},
author = {Şener Şentürk and Duygu Gür Erdoğan and Mustafa Selim Altınışık and Fadıl Şiraz and Kevser Kara},
journal = {Frontiers in psychology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1961607},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13719616},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - University students' perceptions of virtuous persons in Türkiye: associations with psychological wellbeing, resilience, intolerance of uncertainty, and hopelessness
AU - Şener Şentürk
AU - Duygu Gür Erdoğan
AU - Mustafa Selim Altınışık
AU - Fadıl Şiraz
AU - Kevser Kara
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - Frontiers in psychology
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1961607
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13719616
AB - Introduction: Perceptions of virtuous persons represent an important yet understudied dimension of moral cognition that may be associated with individuals' psychological functioning as well as their developmental and contextual experiences. This study examined university students' perceptions of virtuous persons in relation to demographic characteristics, psychological wellbeing, psychological resilience, intolerance of uncertainty, and hopelessness. Methods: This cross-sectional correlational study included 1,322 undergraduate students aged 18–32 years enrolled at five universities in Türkiye. Exploratory demographic differences were examined using an independent-samples t-test and one-way analyses of variance, while the unique contributions of the psychological variables were assessed using multiple linear regression. Results: The regression model was statistically significant and explained 35.9% of the variance in perceptions of virtuous persons. Psychological wellbeing was the strongest positive predictor (β = 0.580, p < 0.001). Intolerance of uncertainty also showed a smaller positive association (β = 0.138, p < 0.001), contrary to the hypothesized negative direction. Psychological resilience and hopelessness did not make significant unique contributions. Exploratory analyses also identified differences according to gender, income level, year of study, and academic achievement, although the effects were modest. Discussion: The findings indicate that psychological characteristics are not uniformly associated with perceptions of virtuous persons and that psychological wellbeing accounts for most of the model's explanatory contribution. The unexpected positive association between intolerance of uncertainty and perceptions of virtuous persons warrants cautious interpretation. Longitudinal and cross-cultural research is needed to clarify the direction and underlying mechanisms of these associations.
SN - 1664-1078
ER -