Examination of the attitudes of serious and casual leisure participants about sustainability in sport: A case of Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports in Çankiri

As in many other areas, sustainability studies are discussed in the literature with the economic and environmental sustainability dimensions under the heading of sustainability in sports. However, it is revealed that there are few studies on sustainability in the field of leisure and recreation. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the attitudes of serious and casual leisure participants to sustainability in sports. A questionnaire was used to determine the attitudes of serious and casual leisure participants to sustainability in sports. Although the sample of the study consisted of 205 serious and casual leisure participants who participated in the leisure activities within the Çankırı Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports, the sampling method was easily used when selecting the participants. In the first part of the questionnaire; the first part of the Serious and Casual Leisure (CKBZ) Scale developed by Akyıldız (2013b) was used to classify the leisure participants as serious and casual according to the activities they participated. In the second part of the questionnaire; Sustainability in Sports Scale (SPS) developed by Koçak (2015) was used to reveal the attitudes of serious and casual leisure participants towards sustainability in sports. Finally, in the third part of the questionnaire; there were 8 questions about the demographic characteristics of serious and casual leisure participants and the courses and activities they participated. Although more than half of the participants in the research sample consisted of males (60.5%), about 45% of them were between the ages of 19-24, 51% had associate degree or higher education, about 90% were single and 85% were students and 30% had monthly income between 3001-4000 TL. According to the research, 55% of the participants are serious leisure participants when they are examined in terms of their participation in leisure activities; The rate of participation in activities and courses within the Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports was 66% on average. According to this study, 55% of the participants were serious leisure participants when their participation levels were examined; The rate of participation in activities and courses within the Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports was 66% on average. The most frequently attended event by the participants is billiards with 20%; the most frequently attended courses were guitar (57.3), relief (5.9%), theater (9.3%) and diction (7.3%). Independent samples T test and ANOVA tests were applied to determine the differences between the demographic characteristics of the participants and the dimensions of sustainability in sports. According to the results of the analysis, there are significant differences between the dimensions of sustainability in sports and the gender, age groups and educational status in the serious leisure participants; In the casual leisure participants, it was found that there were significant differences in the individual sustainability dimension in sports according to the educational status. Generally, in this study, when the differences between the attitudes of the serious and casual leisure participants on the dimensions of sustainability in sports examined, the scores of the serious leisure participants were higher in terms of their participation in courses and activities and their attitudes towards individual, participation, economic and environmental sustainability in sports they appeared to have.