Document Type : Research Paper
Abstract
Isolation, in social science, is withdrawal and deprivation from social interactions. Although it has been an issue for centuries, it has been studied systematically just for the last fifty years. The present paper investigates the quality of university students’ withdrawal and its relation to social trust. Social withdrawal is measured on the basis of three factors: membership in associations and social groups, having social links, and having social relations. The major independent variable is that of social trust, measured by three dimensions of institutional trust, generalized trust and inter-personal trust.
The present paper is a survey study and data collection is done through questionnaires distributed among 361 students. The subjects were chosen through proportional stratified sampling. Cronbach’s Alpha was used for testing reliability of measuring tools, Pearson correlation coefficient was used for testing hypotheses, Variance analysis was used for comparing average values and regression analysis was used for examining the analytic model. Findings show that there is a significant relationship between social trust and social withdrawal among university students. The resulted correlation coefficient for this variable was -0.294. With a significance level of p=0.000, it is indicative of a negative (and reverse) relationship between these two variables. Therefore, we can claim that social withdrawal of university students is largely influenced by the quality of their social trust. Decrease in their social trust leads to increase in their social withdrawal and vice versa. There is also a negative (and reverse) significant relationship between their economic-social status and their social withdrawal.
Multi-variable regression analysis shows that %14 of social withdrawal variance is explained by three variables of generalized trust, parents’ income and inter-personal trust. Therefore, experimental results of the study seem to confirm theoretical views represented in the theoretical framework. Generally, considering the existing social withdrawal, it is necessary to make appropriate policies for activating and motivating university students so that we can eradicate its causes and, subsequently, prevent its probable social damages.
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