The Effect of Active Participation in Recreation on Perception of Loneliness During the Covid-19 Global Epidemic

Abstract

It is seen that the Covid-19 pandemic process changes the lifestyle of individuals and causes some psychological effects on the individual. Especially in this process, determining which variables are associated with the loneliness perceptions of future recreation managers is important in terms of showing how the individual loneliness perception can be reduced in case of social depression again in the future. The starting point of the research is to determine the factors affecting the perception of loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic process. Therefore, the aim of the research is; To determine whether participation in recreational activities has an effect on the perception of loneliness. In this study, which was designed as a quantitative research, descriptive scanning design was used and simple random sampling method was used as the sampling method. The population of the research consists of Necmettin Erbakan University, Faculty of Tourism, Department of Recreation Management students. Study data were obtained using the “UCLA Loneliness Scale”. The analysis of the data was made using the open source “Jamovi” package program. The skewness test was performed to determine the distribution of the data. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the data had a normal distribution. A "t-test" was conducted to determine whether there was a significant difference according to gender and participation in recreational activities. One-way analysis of variance "ANOVA" tests was applied to determine whether there is a significant difference according to income status, class status and the time allocated for recreational activities. According to the findings; The perception of loneliness of individuals who actively participate in recreational activities is quite low compared to individuals who passively participate. As a result; Active participation in recreational activities is the most important factor reducing the perception of loneliness.