A comparıson of stress management levels of ındıvıduals playıng team sports and doıng ındıvıdual sports

This study was carried out so as to determine whether the stress level, which is thought to have an effect on the performance, differs according to individual sports or team sports. Besides, this study also examined differences in branches according to age and gender variables. In order to achieve the target goals of this study, related literature was reviewed and a personal information form was used to determine the sportsmen?s distinguishing features, and ?Stress Management Strategies Scale? was used in order to determine their stress management levels. The participants of the present study consisted of 360 sportsmen actively involved in individual and team sports branches of various sports clubs in Gaziantep. SPSS 16.0 software was used so as to analyze the data. Independent t-test and One-Way Anova test were conducted. The interpretations of the analyses were made according to significance level of 0.05. The results of the study showed that individuals playing in team sports got higher scores from the scale and this was interpreted as they were more optimistic and they were more open to social support; on the other hand, sportsmen doing individual sports were lack of self-confidence and they had submissive and desperate attitudes. It was found out that all the participants got high scores from self-confidence subscale. According to gender variable, when compared to females, male sportsmen might show more positive, calm and realistic attitude toward problems; and also they were more active in determining and solving the problems. However, no relations between age variable and stress management strategies were found.Key Words: Stress, Team Sports, Individual Sports