Investigation of the individuals sports attitudes who participate in orentyring activities for physical activity purpose

This study was carried out to examine the attitudes towards sports of individuals aged between 12-18 years, who participated in orienteering activities (training or local competition) held in Batman, Ankara and Manisa provinces for physical activity in 2022-2023, according to demographic variables (gender, competition category, interest in a branch other than orienteering, city of residence, type of school attended, parental education level, total family monthly income). In this context, individuals who participated in orienteering activities for physical activity were provided to participate in the study voluntarily. In order to determine the attitudes towards sports of volunteer individuals participating in orienteering activities for physical activity, the "Attitude Towards Sports Scale" developed by Şentürk (2014) and the "Personal Information Form" created by the researcher were applied. In the analysis of the data, percentage (%), frequency (f), arithmetic mean (X̄), standard deviation (SD) values were examined for descriptive statistics. For inferential statistics, t-test and one-way variance (Anova) analysis were used. The kurtosis and skewness values were analyzed to determine whether the data were normally distributed. As a result, it was determined that there was a significant difference in the attitudes towards sports sub-dimensions of individuals who practiced orienteering for physical activity according to individuals interested in more than one branch, in the sub-dimensions of active sports and interest in sports according to income, and in the sub-dimension of active sports according to the city of residence (p<0.05). It was determined that there was no significant difference in the sub-dimensions of the attitude towards sports scale according to gender, age category, type of school attended, mother and father education status (p>0,05). Since this study is the first study to measure the 'attitudes towards sports' of orienteering athletes, it will serve as an example for future studies. In future studies, larger groups can be studied, comparisons can be made by working with different age groups. It can also be applied in the comparison of orienteering and non-orienteering groups. Finally, it is thought to contribute to the literature by making an 'Attitude Scale Towards Orienteering' specific to orienteering branch.