The effect of psychological orphanhood on elite athletes' deviation from ethics in sports

The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of psychological orphanhood on elite athletes' deviation from ethics in sports. In this context, the sample of the study consists of a total of 337 athletes, 134 of whom are female and 203 of whom are male, from various clubs affiliated with the Turkish Athletics Federation. In the study, the rule that each scale item should have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 20 points was taken into consideration. In determining the research sample, the requirement that there be a total of 35 items, including 27 items on the psychological orphanhood scale and 8 items on the scale of deviation from ethics in sports, and that the number of participants be at least five times the number of scales, necessitated a minimum of 175 participants for the study. Three separate forms were administered to this sample group for data collection. These were: a personal information form, the scale of moral disengagement in sports, and the psychological orphanhood scale for athletes. The analysis of the data obtained through the forms was carried out using the SPSS 22.0 statistical package programme. In addition to the descriptive analyses, it was found appropriate to perform parametric tests after checking whether the data showed a normal distribution. The Independent Samples t-Test was used for two-group comparisons, while the One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for comparisons involving three or more groups. In cases where significant differences were detected in the ANOVA results, the Tukey HSD test was applied to determine the source of the difference. As a result of the research, moral disengagement and psychological orphanhood in sports were evaluated as important factors that influence each other. In this context, it is recommended that qualitative or mixed methods be used in future studies to examine the current topic in depth. Keywords: Athletics, deviation from ethics in sports, psychological orphanage.