THE EXAMINATION OF SPORTS PARTICIPATION MOTIVES OF MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ACCORDING TO VARIOUS FACTORS (Konya Sample)

The purpose of this study was to determine the sport participation motives of the middle and high school students and examine whether they vary according to level of education, gender, and family support. The sample consists of 2135 students randomly selected from 9 different middle schools and 3 different high schools. Participation Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ) which was developed by Gill et al. (1983) and translated into Turkish by Celebi (1991) was used to collect data. In this study, Cronbach s alpha reliability coefficient was determined to be (0.86). In this context, frequency, mean and Standard deviation values were used as descriptive tests. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine whether the population was normally distributed and Mann-Whitney U Test were applied as non-parametric tests. In this study, the most important motives for participation in sports for both the middle school and high school students were found as “skill development” (middle: 1.21± 0.32), (high: 1.27 ± 0.39) and “movement/being active” (middle: 1.23±0.39), (high: 1.29±0.46). There is a significant difference according to gender, level of education and family support (p 0.05). Therefore, higher mean scores for each subscale and differences between the mean scores indicate that these motives can play an important role in the preparation of plans and programs, organization of the activities and children’s further participation and enjoyment in physical activities.