Investigation of high school students' motivations for participating in physical activity and perceptions of psychological vulnerability and success

Introduction and Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the motivations of high school students to participate in physical activity, psychological fragility and success perception according to some variables and to determine the relationship between them. Materials and Method: The study group consisted of 802 (430 girls, 372 boys) students studying at seven different high schools. Data collection tools were 'Motivation for Participation in Physical Activity Scale', 'Psychological Vulnerability Scale' and 'Success Perception Inventory-Child Form'. Descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson and Spearman Correlation and multiple linear regression tests were used for data analyses. Finding: Motivation to participate in physical activity (MPPA) and success perceptions (SP) were above the middle level, and psychological vulnerability (PV) perceptions of participants were at middle level. The scores of MPPAS differed significantly according to the variables of gender, school type, income, frequency of participation in physical activity, being in the school sports team, mother's education level and father's education level. The scores of PVS differed significantly according to age, grade level and income variables. And SPI-CF scores differed significantly according to the frequency of participation in physical activity and the variable of being in the school sports team. Result: As the psychological vulnerability increases, motivation to participate in physical activity decreases in the environmental reason sub-dimension, and increases in the uncaused sub-dimension. As PV increased, SP decreased, and as SP increased, MPPA increased. MPPA and PV were significant predictors of SP. The relative importance of the predictor variables on the SP; MPPA and PV. 2023, 103 Pages Keywords: High School Student, Motivation, Perception of Success, Physical Activity, Psychological Vulnerability