Comparison of Psychological Skills, Athlete’s Identity, and Habits of Physical Exercise of Students of Faculties of Sport in Four Balkan Countries

Joško Sindik; Gordana Furjan-Mandic; Natasa Zenic; Ivana Čerkez Zovko; Veroljub Stankovic; Zvezdan Savic; Zoran Djokic; Miran Kondrič

Joško Sindik¹, Gordana Furjan-Mandic², Natasa Zenic³, Ivana Čerkez Zovko⁴, Veroljub Stankovic⁵, Zvezdan Savic⁶, Zoran Djokic⁷, Miran Kondrič⁸

¹Institute for Anthropological Research, Zagreb, Croatia
²University of Zagreb, Faculty of Kinesiology, Zagreb, Croatia; Harvard University, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Boston, United States
³University of Split, Faculty of Kinesiology, Split, Croatia
⁴University of Mostar, Faculty of Science and Education, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
⁵University of Prishtina, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Leposavic, Serbia
⁶University of Nis, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Nis, Serbia
⁷University of EDUCONS, Faculty of Sport and Tourism, Novi Sad, Serbia
⁸University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia; International Table Tennis Federation, Lausanne, Switzerland

Comparison of Psychological Skills, Athlete’s Identity, and Habits of Physical Exercise of Students of Faculties of Sport in Four Balkan Countries

Monten. J. Sports Sci. Med. 2017, 6(1), 13-28

Abstract

The goals of the research were to determine the construct validity and reliability of two psychological instruments (AIMS) and (PSICA) applied on samples of college sport students; the correlations between the students’ competition rank, years of engaging in sport, and level of physical exercise; the differences among the universities in different countries, as well as among students from different years of study. The stratified sample included students from six universities, in total 1498 female and male college sport students, with an average age of 20.35±1.76 years (males) and 20.14±1.55 years (females). Both psychological measuring instruments showed very satisfactory psychometric properties. Reliability is particularly high for males for AIMS, while the reliabilities for PSICA are mainly moderate to high and lower than for AIMS. The results could be explained in terms of cultural and organizational differences, and provide the information about directions in designing efficient programs for physical exercise.

Keywords

Physical Activity, Psychology, Sport, Gender, Health.

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