Public Attitudes Toward Syrian Refugees in the Context of Gender and Marital Status: An Empirical Analysis Based on a Turkish Sample

This study examines how public attitudes toward Syrian refugees in Türkiye vary within the host society by gender and marital status. As the social integration and acceptance of refugees have become increasingly salient, the influence of demographic differences has remained underexamined in the literature. To address this gap, an online survey was conducted with 1,666 participants across 11 provinces in Türkiye. Attitudinal tendencies were measured using a five-point Likert scale and the data were analyzed with the Mann–Whitney U test. The findings show that women and single respondents are significantly more open to social interaction and cultural diversity than men and married individuals. Nevertheless, across all demographic groups, similarly cautious attitudes were observed toward issues in the private sphere—such as marriage, business partnerships and property sharing. These results indicate that public attitudes toward refugees are shaped not only by structural or national dynamics but also by social characteristics at the individual level. Accordingly, the study recommends developing targeted, equitable, feasible, and data-driven social cohesion policies that take into account the demographic diversity of the host society.