THE INFLUENCE OF SPORTS ENGAGEMENT ON SELF-ESTEEM AND

ATTITUDE TOWARDS SPORTS OF ADOLESCENTS DURING THEIR

PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION
Key words: adolescence, primary school education, self-esteem,
sports, attitude
A longitude research has been performed in order to identify the
influence of sports engagement on the primary school adolescents
attitude towards sports and the development of their self-esteem.
The results of a group of students during their primary school
education (N=101), and the results of the same group of students
during their secondary school education (N=81) have been
analyzed.
The following instruments have been applied:
1.
2.

3.

A socio-demographic questionnaire which provides basic

information, characteristics and pattern indicators;
A questionnaire which identifies the difference in attitude
between the students who are actively engaged in sports
(athletes) and the ones who do sports for recreational
reasons (non-athletes);
Coopersmiths self-esteem questionnaire and Toulouse selfesteem scale in order to identify if there is a difference
between the athletes and non-athletes.

The data have been analyzed with the SPSS 12.0 program. The oneway variance analyses method was used in the statistical data
processing. The results have shown that the primary school athletes
have more developed self-esteem (p=0.044) and more success at
school (p=0.026) than the non-athletes. Both athletes and nonathletes show positive attitude towards sports, whereas an
ambivalently negative attitude appears mostly among the nonathletes (p=0.576). The results of the athletes compared to the nonathletes tend to improve throughout time, and there is a tendency
that they will have stronger self-esteem (p=0.038, p=0.093, p<0.1),
be more successful at school (p=0.000, p=0.024), and have more
positive attitude towards sports (p=0.004, p=0.001) during their
secondary school education.
The purpose of the research, in social terms, was to create a
scientific foundation for initiation of meaningful actions in the field
of upbringing and education, to seek the systematical changes in
the current state, as well as to popularize sports.