African Educational Research Journal

Special Issue 8(1), pp. 111-114, August 2020

DOI: 10.30918/AERJ.8S1.20.017
ISSN: 2354-2160
Full Length Research Paper

Analysis on the self-confidence of university students

according to physical activity participation
Aydin Ilhan1* and Ulas Sadik Bardakcı2
Faculty of Sport Sciences, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research with college students who participated in physical activity participation in
physical activity among college students is to evaluate the difference between the levels of confidence.
Determining the level of self-confidence according to the participation of the university student in physical
activity and contributing to the importance of participation in physical activity in their daily lives. To evaluate
the difference between the self-confidence levels of university students attending physical activity and
university students who do not participate in physical activity. The research is a quantitative study and the
universe of the research; university students who attend and do not participate in physical activity. The
sample of the research are Pamukkale university students who participated in the physical activity and did
not participate in similar characteristics formed 381 university students. ‘‘Personal Information Form’’
prepared by the researcher to obtain the personal information of the students and Self Confidence Scale
which was developed by Akin (2007) and reliability-validity analysis were used as the data collection tool.
In the study, scale method was used from quantitative research designs. The data were analyzed by SPSS
16 and the Independent-Samples T-Test which is a parametric test was applied to find the difference
between the students who did not participate in the physical activity. In the light of self-reliance inventory
data, it was observed that university students who participated in physical activity had higher level of self-
confidence than non-attendants. In addition, males participating in physical activity have higher levels of
self-confidence than non-participants. The same is true for female students, but the difference is not as
meaningful as the difference between men. As a result of the study, the self-confidence levels of the
students engaged in physical activity were higher than those who did not perform physical activity.

Keywords: Physical activity, self-confidence, university students.

E-mail: [email protected].

INTRODUCTION

Sport has become a part of human life and for this reason Turkish literature, it can be defined as “the judgment that
it is impossible to think only physically what the sport the individual feels valuable” (Bandura, 1997).
gains to individuals. We need to consider as a whole One of the most important determinants of behavior is
what sport brings to individuals in terms of physical, self-confidence. It is the belief that the individual has
spiritual and social aspects (Yarımkaya, 2014). positive judgments about himself, that he loves himself
Self-confidence is a general personality trait, not a and that he can control the events. It is a concept related
temporary attitude or a special attitude towards individual to situations such as thinking of an individual, being
situations (Tokinan, 2008). Self-confidence is defined as peaceful with himself and accepting as he is, getting to
"courage"; however, the concept of self-confidence also know himself and realizing his value (Eldeleklioğlu,
includes the firm belief in one's own abilities. It is a 2004). Self-confidence is self-evaluation. It is a
concept with a physical side as well as a state of mind phenomenon that occurs as a result of being satisfied
(Merey, 2010). As the concept of self-confidence is in with it. It is not static. It can be positive or negative. The
 Afr Educ Res J 112

self-esteem status level may vary depending on increased the number of research in this area. Many
conditions, location, and developments, affecting feelings sports scientists have done research on the level of self-
and behavior in different directions (Soner, 1995:24). confidence in sports (Akın, 2007; Kumar, 2012; Besharat
It is the feeling of self-confidence, the difficulties in the and Pourbohlool, 2011). In addition, various studies have
person, the problems that may arise in life, that he can been conducted on motivation, motivation and success
overcome the problems that may arise in life, based on motivation and optimal performance emotional state
his internal resources, ability, intelligence and power affecting self-confidence level in sports (Ramazanoğlu et
(Sayar, 2003:8-9). al., 2004; Aktaş et al, 2006; Toros, 2002; Şirin et al.,
People who are generally self-confident are people who 2008; Altıntaş et al., 2013; Martin and Gill, 1991;
are optimistic, self-confident and willing to succeed, do Woodman and Hardy, 2003; Koivula et al., 2002;
not resist difficulties, are comfortable and affectionate in Woodman et al., 2010; Coudevylle et al., 2011).
human relations, open to new thoughts and experiences, According to the number of these studies in the literature
and have researcher, responsibility and progressive and the results obtained from the studies, it is seen that
personality. They have a sense of self-respect, useful, the issue of self-confidence in athletes is of great
important people who are worthy of respect and importance and is a widely researched subject in the
acceptance (Mağden and Aksoy, 1993:136). sports literature. To determine the level of self-confidence
Low-confidence people find themselves unsuccessful according to the state of the student's participation in
and worthless. These people do not exchange love for physical activity and to contribute to the importance of
fear of rejection. They believe that they cannot solve their participation in physical activity in their daily lives. To
problems in life. evaluate the difference between self-confidence levels of
They experience the stress and anxiety of constant university students who participate in physical activity and
desperation. They exhibit a dependent life to others and university students who do not participate in physical
are quickly affected (Kurtuldu, 2007:59). activity. It is to update the physical activity status of
Physical activity is important for protecting the body university students with the results that will emerge as a
against diseases, fit and joyful daily life, spending excess result of the research.
energy in a natural way and preventing obesity. In
addition, it helps to slow down the organic decline caused
by aging, reach the superior capacity of the circulatory MATERIALS AND METHODS
and respiratory systems, maintain this capacity, reduce
nervous tensions and increase the preventive and Research pattern and sampling
protective effect of death events brought on by vascular
diseases. It provides getting rid of loneliness and In this section, the participants, their sampling and
prevention of posture disorders with social cohesion design, the data collection tools and method are
(Arabacı and Çankaya, 2007). expressed from the analysis of the data. The research is
In childhood, physical activity provides both short and a quantitative research, the universe of the research; It
long-term benefits in terms of physical, psychological and consists of 39.175 students studying at Pamukkale
social well-being with regular participation. These University. The sample of the research consists of 381
activities not only create positive changes in body students selected from the universe with the easy
integrity, bone health and heart health, but also improve sampling method.
the symptoms of depression, the concept of anxiety and The number of samples was determined according to
self. Physical activity habits acquired during childhood the study named "Sample Selection and Calculation" by
and adolescence become more likely to be sustained by Yazıcıoğlu and Erdoğan in 2004. In order to conduct the
providing a basis for an active and healthy life throughout research, a permit was obtained from Pamukkale
human life (Zwier, 2010). University Directorate in the 2013-2014 Spring Semester
It is thought that there is a positive relationship between of Education. The data were given to the students
being psychologically healthy and self-confidence. It can studying in the 2013-2014 Academic Year Spring
be said that people who have high self-esteem trust them Semester by the researcher and the participants were
more, are at peace with them, so that they can establish asked to fill in under the supervision of the researcher
comfortable, loving and sincere relationships with other and the measurement tools were collected by the
people and are successful in controlling their emotions. researcher.
On the contrary, lack of self-confidence may cause the
person to doubt himself, not to trust himself in most
subjects, to be sensitive to criticism, to experience Data collection tools
loneliness, depression, and inferiority feelings and to feel
that he is not loved by his environment (Bilgin, 2011). In order to obtain the personal information of the
The importance of self-confidence in sports has also students, "Personal Information Form" prepared by the
 Ilhan and Bardakcı 113

researcher and "Self Confidence Scale" were used to participated in physical activity and who did not
determine the self-confidence levels of Pamukkale participate in physical activity.
University students. There are two questions in the
personal information form that include “gender,
participation in physical activity”. The explanation about FINDINGS
the state of participation in physical activity was made to
the students. The scale, which was developed by Self- It is the demographic distribution of students who
Confidence Scale Akın (2007) and whose validity and participated in the self-confidence scale in this study.
reliability analyzes were made, was used as a data As seen in Table 1, when we look at the distribution of
collection tool in the research. The scale was created as students according to their demographic characteristics, it
a result of a comprehensive literature review. is seen that 181 (47.5%) said no and 200 (52.5%) said
yes. Pamukkale University students’ self-confidence
levels were analyzed according to their physical activity
Data analysis and non-physical activity.
According to the results of the analysis in Table 2, there
Scale method, one of the quantitative research patterns, is a significant difference between university students and
was used in the study. Average and standard deviation those who did and did not participate in physical activity
were used in the descriptive statistics of the data. The [p < 0.05]. Accordingly, the self-confidence (= 4.16) of
data obtained were analyzed and independent t-test was those participating in physical activity is higher than those
used to find the difference between students who who do not (= 3.46).

Table 1. Distribution of students studying at Pamukkale University

according to their physical activity.

*PA participation N %
Participating 200 52.5
Not participating 181 47.5
Total 381 100
p < 0.05, *PA - Physical Activity.

Table 2. Independent groups t-test result, which is a parametric test that shows
a significant difference between self-confidence levels of students who do
physical activity and not physical activity.

*PA participation N X Ss T P
Participating 200 4.16 .35
19.95 .000
Not Participating 181 3.46 .32
Total 381
p < 0.05; *PA - Physical Activity.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION confidence.

According to the results obtained from the studies of
There is a significant difference between the self- students who do and do not do sports in determining and
confidence levels of the students according to their comparing personal compliance levels, it was concluded
physical activity. that students who participated in physical activity had
According to the analysis results in Table 2, there was higher scores than students who did not participate, and
a significant difference between university students who their compliance levels were higher than those who did
participated in physical activity and those who did not not participate in physical activity (Duman and Kuru,
participate in physical activity. Accordingly, those who 2010). This situation also supports our work.
participate in physical activity have higher self- Slutzky and Simpkins (2009) stated that regular sports
 Afr Educ Res J 114

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