An Investigation of the Relationship Beliefs of the University Students Regarding Gender and Dating Status

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine whether there is a difference among university students’ relationship-specific irrational beliefs in regard to their gender and dating status. The sample consisted of 742 undergraduate students enrolled at Mersin University. “Relationship Beliefs Questionnaire” was used in the present study. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test were used to analyze the data. The results of the study revealed that the relationshipspecific irrational beliefs of university students differed significantly in terms of their gender and dating status. Specifically, males were significantly more likely to have beliefs about “we should do everything together”, “we should be able to meet all of each other’s needs” and “we should be able to change for each other” than females. When dating status of students considered, it was found that the students involved in a romantic relationship for the first time were significantly more likely to have relationship-specific irrational beliefs than the other groups of students.