The effect of sports on internal motivation and mentalstamina in security forces (Gaziantep provincial example)

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of sports on internal motivation and mental resilience in law enforcement personnel. The universe of the research consists of police officers working within the Gaziantep Provincial Police Department, and the sample group consists of 100 (94 men, 6 women) police officers selected on a voluntary basis. As a data collection tool in the research; Dundar et al. (2007) "Intrinsic Motivation Scale" was used. SPSS 22.0 program was used in the analysis of the data. It was determined that the data showed normal distribution and parametric tests were applied. Independent samples t-test and One Way Anova analyzes were used to determine the difference between independent variables, and paired samples t-test was used in pretest-posttest comparisons. Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between dependent independent variables, and numerical data were interpreted in tables and analyzed at a significance level of 0.05. In conclusion; While the internal motivation levels of the research group were found to be quite high, the subdimension of trust in their mental toughness was found to be quite high, while the dimensions of commitment and control were determined at a medium level. Considering the pretest-posttest scores of the research group, positive significant increases were found in both intrinsic motivation and mental toughness. In intrinsic motivation, it was observed that the increase in men was higher than in women, and the increase in those with undergraduate education was higher than those with postgraduate education. In terms of marital status, it was determined that the increase in mental resilience of married people was significant in the direction of married people. It was concluded that when trust and commitment increase, control decreases and intrinsic motivation increases.