The Role of Family Honor in University Students’ Educational Decisions: Associations with Psychosocial Factors in a Turkish Sample

Abstract Book of the 19th International Conference on Humanities, Psychology and Social Sciences

Year: 2026

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The Role of Family Honor in University Students’ Educational Decisions: Associations with Psychosocial Factors in a Turkish Sample

Neslihan Topaloglu, Dr. Veysel Mehmet Elgin

ABSTRACT:

Honor culture constitutes a central cultural framework in which individual behavior is embedded within family reputation and moral expectations. In societies characterized by high levels of honor culture, such as Turkey, family honor represents a key cultural value shaping individuals’ life decisions. The present study examines the role of family honor in university students’ educational decision-making processes, while also considering related psychosocial variables, including life satisfaction, subjective social status, and perfectionism dimensions (high standards and parental expectations). Participants were 170 undergraduate students enrolled at Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey. Data were collected online using a Demographic Information Form, the Honour Values Scale, the Family Honor Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the MacArthur Subjective Social Status Ladder, the High Standards subscale of the Almost Perfect Scale and the Parental Expectations subscale of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. Educational decisions were assessed across three subdimensions: family-influenced decisions, group-based reasons, and individual-based reasons. Correlational analyses showed a strong positive association between honor culture and family honor. Both family honor and honor culture were positively associated with family-influenced and group-based educational decisions, whereas their associations with individual-based reasons were weak or non-significant. Regression analyses further revealed that family honor and honor culture significantly predicted family- and group-oriented educational decisions but did not predict individual-based decision motives. Overall, the findings suggest that family honor functions as an important cultural mechanism shaping educational decision-making among university students in honor-oriented contexts, primarily through family and group-related considerations.

Keywords: Honor Culture; Educational Choices; Life Satisfaction; Status; Perfectionism