An investigation of moral attitudes of middle school students participating i̇n inter-school competitions: The case of Ardahan province

KUYUCU, Soner. An Investigation Of Moral Attitudes Of Middle School Students Participating İn Inter-School Competitions: The Case Of Ardahan Province, Master's Thesis, Ardahan, 2025. The aim of this study is to examine the "Moral Attitudes" of middle school students who participate and do not participate in school sports, taking into account certain variables. In this study, the Physical Education Course Sportsmanship Behavior Scale (BEDSDÖ), developed by Koç, was administered to 211 students from various middle schools located in the city center of Ardahan. For the statistical analysis of the data obtained in the research, IBM SPSS Statistics Version 30.0.0.(172) 2024 was used. At the end of the study, an independent samples t-test was conducted to observe whether there was a gender-based difference in students' moral behaviors towards physical education classes and competitions. According to the analysis results, it was found that there was a difference in moral behavior scores between female and male students, with male students demonstrating more sportsmanlike attitudes than female students. Analyses were also conducted to determine whether students' age groups had an impact on the display of moral behaviors, and it was statistically confirmed that students' age groups significantly influenced their moral behaviors during sports games. Furthermore, students who participated in school competitions and were thus more involved in physical education were compared with those who only took part in physical education classes, using an independent samples t-test. When comparing students who participated in inter-school competitions with those who did not, a statistically significant difference was found in terms of appropriate behavior scores. Accordingly, students who only participated in physical education classes (M = 3.07, SD = .47) had higher appropriate behavior scores than students who participated in competitions (M = 2.71, SD = .35).