INVESTIGATION OF THE SELF-ESTEEM LEVELS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

This study aimed to investigate the self-esteem levels of international students who study at different departments at Uşak University in terms of some socio-demographic backgrounds. The data were collected from 113 male and 35 female international students. In the data collection, two-part surveys applied to the participants. In the first part, a form that included items about sociodemographic backgrounds of the participants and in the second part, Cooper Smith Self Esteem inventory short form which was consisted of 25 items used. The data were analyzed with SPSS 22 using Independent samples t-test, One Way Variance Analyze (ANOVA) and Tukey' s Hsd. As the results of this research, it was found that there were significant differences in the variable self-esteem according to gender, age, class, and sports situation of the participants. However, there were no significant differences according to nationality.


INTRODUCTION
Self-esteem is a phenomenon that expresses whether the individual finds himself valuable or valuable (Baumeister et al., 2003). Self-esteem is that one feels proud, valuable, diligent, active, and successful. It is the result of self-judgment and evaluation as a complex. It is a liking which comes out as a result of the acceptance of the self after self-evaluation (Yüksekkaya, 1995). The most crucial factor affecting personality is the self. The self consists of our views of our personality and our way of thinking. In this respect, we can define the self as the first side of personality. Thus, the self is a dynamic pattern of the individual's beliefs about his or her characteristics, abilities, value judgments, and ideas. Self is to be conscious and has a spiritual and bodily concept. The concept of self is the awareness of the individual's own identity (Aşçı, 1997).
In its broadest sense, the self is the self-developed attitude of people as a result of social interactions with others. In other words, it contains the answers such questions: "What am I? What is worth to me? What can I do? What do I want from life?" Thus, the self becomes a pattern of the characteristics, abilities, values, desires, and ideas of the individual (Gün, 2006). A person with low self-esteem is less confident, easily despaired; in short, he is more likely to develop negative psychological symptoms (İkizler and Karagözoğlu 1997). People with high selfesteem behave differently than people with low self-esteem. Results show that high self-esteem will lead the individual to engage in an active and social relationship, while low self-esteem leads to a feeling of under pressure and weak in the community (Yüksekkaya, 1995).
People behave in a way to change and improve other people's thoughts in a positive way, such as exercising, performing aesthetic surgery, and dieting (Williams, Hudson, and Lawson, 1999). Many other studies show that exercise has a positive effect on the facets of the self (Willis and Campbell, 1992). In this concept, we aimed to examine whether the self-esteem levels of international students studying at Uşak University in 2015-2016 differ according to socio-demographic backgrounds.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
Study Group: To reveal the level of self-esteem of international students studying in Uşak University in 2016-2017 and to investigate them in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, 113 male and 35 female from different countries composed the study group. All participants were international students. The majority of the 148 students who participated in the study were from the Turkic Republics, and the remainder were from Balkan countries. Data Collection Tools: Firstly, the current information regarding the purpose of the research was systematically given by scanning the literature. Thus, we formed a theoretical framework on the subject and to collect data; we used 25-item Cooper Smith Self-Esteem Inventory (Coopersmith, 1959) in addition to a personal  Özoğul (1988). The scale consisted of one sub-dimension and 25 True/False items; for every item, the response assigned a score of 0 or 1. High scores indicate high self-esteem, and low points indicate low self-esteem. Procedure: The scales were answered individually by the participants. The majority of the participants were able to speak and understand Turkish. Besides, the language support was provided to those in need of language support when completing the scales. Analysis of the Data: Before data analysis, analysis assumptions were examined. Data from missing and incorrect encodings were validated, and the normality assumptions were tested with the kurtosis and skewness values. Then, independent samples t-test and One Way ANOVA were used to identify significant differences. Tukey's HSD test applied as a second-degree test. Analyzes were made with the SPSS 22 for Windows and at %95 confidence level.  According to independent samples t-test results, participants' self-esteem shoved a significant difference according to gender (t (146) = -3.51, p <.001). According to results, it was seen that female participants have significantly higher self-esteem than male participants. Age-related descriptive data indicated that the self-esteem of the participants was highest in those aged 24 and over (X = 15.84), and the self-esteem decreased significantly as the age decreased. ANOVA analysis results of self-esteem by age are given in Table 4. One-way ANOVA results on age and self-esteem showed that there was a significant difference between the participants' self-esteem levels according to age (F (2, 145) = 4.53, p <.05). Tukey-test was applied to see the differences between the groups. The results showed that the average score of the participants in the 20-23 age-group was significantly higher than the average of 17-19 years. According to descriptive statistics, it was seen that as the class levels get high, the self-esteem level gets high as well. The ANOVA results of whether this change is meaningful are given below in Table 7. One-way ANOVA results for the class level showed that there were significant differences in the self-esteem of the participants in terms of the class/grade level (F (2, 145) = 6.382, p <.05). When the Tukey test results were examined, it was seen that there was a significant increase in the self-esteem scores of the participants as the grade level increases. According to the t-test results on the variable self-esteem according to whether the participants doing sports or not it was seen that there was a significant difference (t (146) = -2.361, p<.05) in favor of students who do not perform regular sports/exercise (X=11.70±3.35).

DISCUSSION AND RESULT
This study aimed to investigate the self-esteem levels of international students from different departments of Uşak University according to socio-demographic backgrounds. According to analyze results, participants' self-esteem level significantly changed according to gender (Table 2). It was seen that female participants had significantly higher self-esteem than male participants. In his study, Saygılı et al. (2015) found that female participants had higher self-esteem than males. Our results are similar to the study mentioned. So we can say that women feel more valued, diligent, compelling, and successful than men. One-way ANOVA results on age and self-esteem showed that there was a significant difference in the self-esteem of the participants in terms of age (table 4). The results of the analysis showed that the participants in the 20-23 age group were significantly higher than 17-19 years (table 3 & 4). We can say that as age decreases, lower self-esteem occurs. According to the study of Saygılı et al. (2015), there was a significant difference between age groups and self-esteem levels of university students. Students in the 21-23 age-group had the lowest self-esteem score, while students in the age group 27 and above had the highest self-esteem score. In another study that examined the self-esteem of the participants according to age groups, it was determined that self-esteem developed with age (Mullis et al., 1992). In their study, Tamer et al. (2011) found similar results. However, in a study conducted by Dinçer et al. (2015), there was no significant difference in the self-esteem levels of physically disabled badminton players according to age.
The analyze results revealed no significant difference regarding the participants' (nationalities) countries (Table 5). In the literature, although not conducted with students with different nationalities, Gün (2006), found no significant difference in the variable self-esteem with students from different regions (provinces).
One-way ANOVA results for class level showed that there were significant differences in the self-esteem of the participants in terms of class level (table 7). It was seen that there was a significant increase in the self-esteem scores of the participants as the class level increases. In a similar study conducted on nursing students, it was found that first-year students had the lowest and the fourth-grade students had the highest self-esteem score. In the same research, it was stated that the increase in selfesteem as the class increased, the positive effect of the experience and knowledge increase while continuing university education. Besides, the authors argued that senior students were more knowledgeable and experienced, and that being together for more extended periods during their education with instructors and healthcare professionals (Karadağ et al., 2008). The findings of the research conducted in secondary school students indicated that the self-esteem scores of the students increased as the grade levels increased (Balat and Akman, 2004). Çam et al. (2000) stated in a similar study that as the class level increases, the self-esteem levels of the students increase. Also, Saygılı et al. (2015) found that students' self-esteem scores differed significantly according to their educational status.
According to sportive participation of the students, there was a significant difference in the variable self-esteem in favor of students who do not participate in  Gün (2006) supports that result. Similarly, in a study by Doğan et al. (1994) it was determined the participation rates and self-esteem levels of university students in active social activities, it was concluded that the body image evaluation is more positive in the students who do sports about whether there is a difference between the body images of the students who do sports and not. As a conclusion, we can say that even the students have an education in the same country together, being from a different nationality does not affect self-esteem in university-level students.