Investigation of the attitude of patriotism in individual athletes in terms of socio-cultural, demographic and sports-related variables

Man, as a social creature, has always maintained its existence in a community and continued its development by establishing dominance in a certain geographical region from the first moment of its existence to the present day. The interactions created by the people who have learned to live socially with their environment have led to the formation of some common values such as patriotism. The aim of this study is to compare combat athletes with other individual athletes in terms of patriotism levels according to some socio-demographic variables. General survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. Sample selection was made with the purposive sampling technique, one of the nonprobability sampling methods. In this non-random technique, the researcher decides what needs to be known and sets out to find individuals who can provide the knowledge (Bernard, 2002). Individuals or groups who are competent on the subject of interest are consciously chosen due to their qualifications (Cresswell, 2011). Athletes who have a license at least one of the following sports in junior or senior category took part in the research: athleticism, wrestling, badminton, archery, swimming, court-tennis, fencing, equestrian, weightlifting, gymnastics, bobsleigh, snowboarding, kickboxing, wushu (sanda-kinda), muaythai, karate, taekwondo, judo, aikido and boxing. To collect data, the "Patriotism Attitude Scale" (PAS) originally developed and fully validated by Schatz, Staub and Lavine (1999) and later adapted into Turkish by Yazıcı and Yazıcı (2010), and information form prepared by the researcher were used. The scale consists of 20 questions and 2 sub-dimensions called Blind Patriotism and Constructive Patriotism. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, data collection tools were prepared on Google Drive and shared with the participants. There were 312 athletes; 149 in junior category, 163 in senior category; 214 men and 98 women. For statistical analysis; frequency, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Shapiro-Wilk, Mann Whitney-U, Kruskal Wallis tests were applied. Significance level was p<0.05 and confidence interval was 95%. According to the comparisons made according to the genders of the athletes, it was seen that male athletes had a higher average score compared to women in BP (p=,014) and CP (p=,006) scores. According to the level of education, there was a significant difference in the scores of athletes who completed graduate education in BP scores (p=,015), while there was no significant difference in terms of CP (p=,222). A significant difference was found in the scores of BP (p=,004) and CP (p=,016) among Turkish, Kurdish and Arab athletes in terms of ethnicity. Deciphering the results of the study, a significant difference was found in the scores of BP (p=,004) and CP (p=,016). There was a significant difference in the BP (p=,012) scores of the athletes who identified themselves as Turkish, Kurdish and Arab according to cultural identity, while there was no difference in terms of CP (p=,300). According to the success variable in sports, there was a significant difference in BP (p=,022) scores between athletes who achieved degrees at international competitions and Turkish championships and athletes who achieved degrees at provincial, regional, intercollegiate, European, World and Olympic championships. However, there was no difference in CP (p=,241) scores. In the political opinion variable, there was a difference between left-wing and far-left-minded athletes in the Dec (,010) scores of athletes expressing right-wing, far-right and neutral views, between athletes who were neutral in the Dec (,004) scores and between athletes with right-wing and far-right views. In terms of the level of religiosity, BP (,031) scores scores that identifies themselves as very religious very religious and I'm not a religious person at all athletes, and the athletes that I'm a bit more of where I'm undecided identifies as religious, CP (,041) I'm undecided on points, very religious, very religious and some that you identify as very religious differences were found between athletes with athletes who are Pauna. The level of sense of belonging to his country variable, BP athletes who strongly agree (,012) comprise the difference in score CP (,000) points I disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree I strongly disagree with the athletes athletes who who say the difference between is formed. I would like to be a citizen of another country according to the variable, BP (,007) and CP (,002), expressed as athletes in the score itself strongly disagree strongly agree, agree, undecided and disagree brew ortalamsi higher scores compared to athletes who do not have to express it has been seen that. I'm happy to be a citizen of the Republic of Turkey according to the variable, BP (,000) and CP (,000) strongly agree agree undecided disagree and expressed as itself and the points of athletes compared to athletes who stated to me as I am with an average of points were higher. The government of the Republic of Turkey, the variable I should be proud to represent you as a national athlete according to himself, I entirely agree with that you identify as athletes BP (,000) is more of a score, where CP (,000) with the points I completely agree, disagree and undecided as of the scores of the athletes and I agree that identifies itself as I'm with an average of Express points higher compared to athletes who were observed.In line with the results from the study, gender, education level, ethnicity, cultural identity, and success to the level of political views, the level of religiosity sense of belonging to the country, a citizen of another country olmyi prompt, Turkey cumhiyiyet as an athlete to be a citizen of the Republic of Turkey and the government of national patriotism proud to represent attitudes and behavior factors that is good in the show. On the other hand, income level, age, country of residence for the past 5 years, sport, duration, category (Young-large), branch (individual sport an individual sport ovus), National Sportsmanship situation, National Sportsman Class (A-B-C), representing his country for the number of factors has created a difference in the attitudes of patriotism. This study was designed to examine the patriotic attitudes of athletes in terms of certain variables. New studies are needed to generalize the results obtained. For this reason, it is recommended to carry out studies to include larger samples with different variables and different athlete groups. Keywords: Discrimination, Demographic Features, Identity, Nationalism, Sport Brans