Examination of school, environment, and family effects on high school student-athletes in relation to their sports branch (case of Afyonkarahisar province)

In our research, the effects of school, environment and family factors on the choice of branches of licensed athletes studying at high school were investigated. The study group consisted of 119 women and 210 men, a total of 329 student athletes. A survey consisting of 31 questions was applied to the student athletes participating in the research. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the survey is 0.826. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistical evaluations such as frequency (f), percentage (%) and mean (x). Chi-square analyzes were examined for some variables. The results were evaluated according to the 0.00 significance level. SPSS 25.0 package program was used in all statistical procedures. In this study, it was seen that primarily social media, computer and online games affected the choice of branch, and these factors were higher in male athletes than in female athletes. It is noteworthy that the primary expectation of families in directing their children to sports is the desire for them to be healthy. Adhering to this result, it has been revealed that families continue their financial contributions to support the continuity of the branch. It has been observed that this result is more common in athletes in team sports.