The moderating effect of sportsmanship behavior on the relationship between perceived social support and perceived stress among secondary school students

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of sportsmanship behavior on the relationship between perceived social support and perceived stress among high school students. The sample of this study, conducted using a correlational screening model, consisted of a total of 637 students (362 female and 275 male) attending three different high schools in the Erzincan city center. The study used the "Physical Education and Sports Class Sportsmanship Behavior Scale," the "Perceived Stress Scale," and the "Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support." Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to test the research hypotheses in the data analysis. PROCESS Macro Model 1 was then used to test the effect of the moderator variable on the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The results revealed that although there was no direct and significant relationship between sportsmanship and stress, there was a positive and significant relationship between sportsmanship and perceived social support. The most striking finding was that sportsmanship behavior had a statistically significant moderating role in the effect of perceived social support on stress. Slope analysis clearly demonstrated the direction of this effect The study concluded that as the level of sportsmanship increases, the stress-reducing effect of perceived social support becomes stronger.