Examination of Sports Sciences Students emotional self-awareness levels, emotion regulation skills and life satisfaction

Background and Aim: The primary aim of this study is to examine the emotional self-awareness skills, emotion regulation abilities, and life satisfaction levels of university students studying at the faculty of sports sciences. Additionally, the relationships among these three variables are evaluated in terms of various demographic and sport-related characteristics. The study also investigates whether participants' life satisfaction and emotion regulation levels differ significantly based on variables such as gender, academic department, type of sport, level of athletic involvement, years of sports experience, age at which they started sports, history of physical or mental illness, and medication use. Material and Methods: The study population consists of undergraduate students enrolled in the Kırkpınar Faculty of Sports Sciences at Trakya University. Four data collection tools were used to determine participants' levels of emotional self-awareness, emotion regulation, and life satisfaction: the Athlete Information Form, the Emotional Self-Awareness Scale, the Emotion Regulation Skills Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. The scales were administered individually in an online format. Results: In addition to descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, independent samples t-test, and multiple regression analyses were conducted. The results showed that emotional self-awareness significantly predicted 28.3% of the variance in emotion regulation skills and 9.2% of the variance in life satisfaction. Furthermore, emotion regulation skills accounted for 19.5% of the variance in life satisfaction. Regarding demographic variables, no significant differences were found based on gender, level of athletic experience, age of starting sports, or years in the sport. However, variables such as mental illness and medication use were found to have a negative impact on life satisfaction and emotion regulation skills. Conclusion: This study examined whether university students' life satisfaction, emotion regulation skills, and emotional self-awareness levels varied according to demographic and sports-related variables. The findings revealed that while certain variables had a statistically significant impact on these constructs, others did not. These results suggest that the psychosocial well-being of university students in early adulthood is influenced by a variety of factors. When examining life satisfaction levels, the overall mean was found to be above average, indicating that students are generally satisfied with their lives. However, it was also determined that this level of satisfaction is affected by various individual and environmental factors. Keywords: Emotion regulation, life satisfaction, emotional self-awareness.