Issue Information

The purposes of this study are to assess the efficiency of the cohesion of education and happiness of G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States), and to test the diagnostic performance of input and output variables in determining the efficiency status of G7 countries. For these purposes, the study has a two-stage analysis design. In the first stage; Input Orientation Slack-Based Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model was employed using five input variables (PISA Reading Performance, PISA Mathematics Performance and PISA Science Performance) and one output variable (Average Happiness Score). In the second stage, the ROC Analysis was conducted for the diagnostic performance of input and output variables in determining the Efficiency Status of G7 countries. The dataset belongs to 2025 or the nearest year, and it is gathered from OECD Data and the World Happiness Report 2025. While the first stage of analysis design was carried out using the deaR package in the R project, the second stage was carried out using Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Diagnostic Tests and ROC Analysis Software. According to the first stage of analysis design, it was determined that 5 out of 7 G7 countries are efficient (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States), while the remaining two countries (Japan and the United Kingdom) were found to be inefficient. Besides, all five efficient G7 countries rank first, while Japan ranks last among the seven G7 countries. According to the second stage of analysis design, it was determined that the i2: PISA Mathematics Performance and i3: PISA Science Performance input variables could distinguish the Efficiency Status with the cutoff points (481.901) and (499.542), respectively. As the cohesion of education and happiness efficiency of G7 countries remains largely unexplored in the existing literature, this study stands out by incorporating the Slack-Based Measure and ROC Analysis to fill this research gap.

Although previous literature has examined adolescents' levels of nature connectedness, especially in the context of gender, age and culture, the factors associated with adolescents' nature connectedness have not been addressed much. The current study examines the variables that facilitate and leverage adolescents' nature connectedness and the hindrances to nature connectedness. A total of 1,316 high school students from the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey participated in the study. A priori analyses showed that adolescents had low levels of nature connectedness. Path analysis results indicated that mindfulness was leverage to nature connectedness. However, problematic mobile phone use was a variable that hindered nature connectedness directly and through the frequency of experiencing nature. The study also showed that disgust sensitivity in nature influenced outdoor recreation preferences related to nature connectedness. The results highlight the importance of mindfulness in adolescents' increasing nature connectedness and the dangers of problematic mobile phone use.

The study aims to determine the significance of variables that effectively classify university students’ foreign language anxiety levels. For this purpose, data were collected from 1121 students studying in two metropolitan cities in Central Anatolia during the 2018-2019 academic year. The research is a correlational research type, with a predictive correlation method. The Foreign Language Anxiety Scale was used to determine the anxiety levels of the students. The predictor variables used in the classification of foreign language anxiety were English self-confidence, school climate, attitude towards English course, English self-efficacy, value given to English course, interest in English course, English course motivation, mother’s education status, father’s education status, family income status, gender, grade, and school type. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS. 70% of the data set in the analyses was selected as the training sample and 30% as the test sample. In the data analysis, 100 different artificial neural network models were established for each sub-dimension, and the average significance of each variable in classifying the relevant dimension was calculated across 100 different models to create an importance ranking of the variables. According to the findings obtained from the research, it was determined that the variable with the highest effect on classifying students’ foreign language speaking anxiety levels was English self-confidence, while the variable with the lowest effect was grade level; that the variable with the highest effect on classifying the level of negative evaluation anxiety in foreign language was English self-confidence, while the variable with the lowest effect was grade level; and that the variable with the highest effect on classifying the level of foreign language test anxiety was school type, while the variable with the lowest effect was English self-confidence. The accuracy level of the classifications ranged from 79.00% to 92.92%.

Studies aimed at improving the understanding of how individuals experience within social systems have given attention in recent years. Based on this information, the present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the Personal Social Systems Experience Scale, a scale developed to assess individuals’ personal and work-related experiences in their social systems, by adapting the personal and work-related forms to Turkish culture. The study sample consisted of a total of 352 adults (Nfemale = 226, Nmale = 122) between the ages of 18-65 (M = 27.97, SD = 12.13). Of the participants, 235 (66.8%) reported that they were not currently employed, 23 (6.5%) reported that they were employed part-time, and 94 (26.7%) reported that they were employed full-time. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire form consisting of the Demographic Information Form, personal and work-related social systems forms of the Experiences in Personal Social Systems Scale, the Interpersonal Relationship Styles Scale, the Need Satisfaction Scale, and the Brief Symptom Inventory. In order to test the construct validity of both forms of the Experiences in Personal Social Systems Scale, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were applied to the data, respectively. For the personal form of the scale, a 10-item, unidimensional structure was obtained, differing from the original version. On the other hand, the findings indicated that the organization form of the scale exhibited a 10-item, two-dimensional structure, also differing from the original form. The reliability coefficients for both forms of the scale were found to be at satisfactory levels. Additionally, expected correlations were observed between the scale items and the variables used for criterion validity. The emergence of structures in the Turkish versions of the scale that differ from the original forms is thought to be attributable to cultural differences. The findings are discussed in the light of the relevant literature