The determining role of folk-dance trainers' toxic leadership behavior on the psychological resilience and satisfaction levels of the athletes

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of folk-dance athletes' perceptions of trainers' toxic leadership behaviors on their psychological resilience and satisfaction levels. The universe of the research is made up of licensed sportsmen in the youth and senior categories of the Turkish Folk Dance Federation. In the period 2019-2020 as the study was conducted, the number of licensed athletes in the youth and senior categories was determined to be 10992, as 4856 men and 6136 women. A total of 713 people were included in the study to make the results more realistic. In the study, data were collected using a questionnaire through convenience sampling method. The Toxic Leadership Scale in Sports used in the research was developed by Can (2019). Can (2019) adapted the Toxic Leadership Scale developed by Çelebi et al. (2015) to toxic leadership in sports and developed the Toxic Leadership Scale in Sports. The Psychological Resilience Scale used in this study was developed by Smith et al. (2008) in order to measure the resilience of athletes. The Turkish adaptation of the scale was made by Dogan (2015). The Athlete Satisfaction Scale was used by Türksoy in his doctoral thesis in 2008. Özmutlu conducted a validity and reliability study in 2011 to use the mentioned scale in his study titled "The Relationship Between Servant Leadership Behaviors of Trainers and Athlete Satisfaction in Physically Handicapped Athletes". The data collected from the athletes were analyzed with the SPSS 20 package program. In the analyses, it was observed that the toxic leadership perception of athletes was generally low. When examined based on sub-scales; although athletes think that their trainers have a partially negative mood, they think that their coaches are not manipulative, unworthy and selfish. Also, it was determined that the athletes were psychologically resilient, and their satisfaction levels were generally high. In the study, whether the perception of toxic leadership behaviors of trainers and the psychological resilience and satisfaction levels of athletes differed significantly according to demographic characteristics was investigated. Accordingly, toxic leadership perceptions have turned out to be at the same level in male and female athletes. Toxic leadership perception was found to differ significantly in terms of athletes' age, educational status and the gender of trainers. However, it was determined that the toxic leadership perceptions of the athletes did not differ significantly according to athletes' folk-dance durations and the coaching status of the trainers. The psychological resilience of the athletes differed significantly according to their gender, age, educational status, folk dance durations, and the gender of the trainers. However, it can be said that the trainers' coaching situation has no meaningful effect on the psychological resilience levels of the athletes. Similarly, the satisfaction level of the athletes was determined to differ significantly according to their gender, age, educational status, time spent in the folk dancing and the gender of the coach. However, it turns out that the athletes' satisfaction level does not differ according to the coaching status of the trainers. In the study, it was determined that there was a negative and meaningful relationship between the toxic leadership behaviors of the trainers and the psychological resilience and satisfaction levels of the athletes. Therefore, as toxic leadership behaviors increased, it was determined that the psychological resilience and satisfaction levels of the athletes decreased. Keywords: Trainer, Folk Dances, Toxic Leadership, Psychological Resilience, Satisfaction, Athlete