The relationship between high school students' attitudes towards sports and their personality levels of optimism and pessimism levels: (Example of İstanbul province)

The aim of the study is to examine the relationship between high school students' attitudes towards sports and their personality levels of optimism and pessimism. The research was conducted using a relational survey model, a quantitative research method. The population of this study consists of high school students studying in Istanbul. According to the most current statistics from the Ministry of National Education, there are 1,265,270 high school students in Istanbul, 667,729 male and 597,541 female. There are 21 high schools in the Arnavutköy district of Istanbul. Six high schools were randomly selected from these high schools, and the study was conducted with students attending these high schools. 593 students were selected using simple random sampling and were included in the study. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS (23.0) data analysis program. The high school students' attitudes towards sports (interest in sports, living through sports, and active participation in sports) and their levels of optimism and pessimism were examined according to variables of gender, age, and grade. An unrelated samples t-test was conducted for the gender variable, a multi-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for grade and socioeconomic status variables, and Pearson Moment Correlation analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between variables. The results of the study revealed that high school students' attitudes toward sports were correlated with their levels of optimism and pessimism. A relationship was also found between optimism and active participation in sports, a life lived through sports, and an interest in sports. Furthermore, an inverse relationship was found between pessimism and active participation in sports, a life lived through sports, and an interest in sports. Therefore, students with higher levels of optimism were found to be more interested in sports and to have an increased tendency to actively participate in sports. Keywords: Attitude Towards Sports, Optimism, Pessimism, High School, Student