The relationship between sportsmanship behaviors and empathetic tendencies among 10-16 year old soccer players

The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between sportsmanship behaviors and empathic tendency levels in football players aged 10-16. Additionally, this study aims to investigate the sportsmanship behaviors and empathy levels of participants in terms of variables such as age, type of school, grade, sports age, football age, parents' education level, parents' occupation, and parents' sports background. The population of the study consists of approximately 3000 licensed football players aged 10-16 playing in the lower groups of the amateur league in Ankara, and the sample is planned to consist of approximately 400 licensed football players aged 10-16 playing at Ankara Kartal Sports Club. To obtain the data, participants will be given a personal information form (age, type of school, grade, sports age, football age, parents' education level, parents' occupation, parents' sports background) prepared by the researchers, the "Multidimensional Sportsmanship Orientation Scale" developed by Vallerand et al. (1997) and adapted into Turkish by Balçıkanlı (2010), and the "Empathy Scale in Sports" developed by Erkuş and Yakupoğlu (2001). The Turkish adaptation of the Multidimensional Sportsmanship Orientation Scale consists of 20 items and 4 sub-dimensions. The sub-dimensions are: respect for rules and management, adherence to social norms, commitment to responsibilities in sports, and respect for the opponent. The Empathy Scale in Sports consists of 16 items and 2 sub-dimensions: emotional empathy in sports and cognitive empathy in sports. Data analysis will be performed using the SPSS 25.0 software package. After descriptive statistics, the normality of the data distribution will be tested. If the data show a normal distribution, independent samples t-test will be used to compare the means of two independent groups, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) will be used for the analysis of more than two groups, and Pearson Correlation Analysis will be used to determine the levels of relationship between continuous variables. The significance level will be set at 0.05. The importance of this research lies in determining the impact of sportsmanship and empathy concepts on young athletes. While sportsmanship reflects the ethical and moral behaviors of athletes, empathy refers to the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Examining the impact of these two concepts on young athletes is considered important in the development and education of sports. The results of the research are expected to contribute to the development of educational programs and strategies aimed at increasing both sportsmanship and empathy levels in young football players. Additionally, examining how empathic tendencies of athletes in this age group reflect on their sportsmanship behaviors can provide a unique and new perspective in the field of sports psychology and education.