DISPOSITIONAL OPTIMISTIC AND PESSIMISTIC MENTAL STATES OF YOUNG ATHLETES: GENDER DIFFERENTIATION

Abstract

The purpose was to compare the researched parameters based on gender differentiation and to determine young athletes’ dispositional optimistic and pessimistic mental states. The study’s participants were young people aged 15 to 19 years (M=17.03; SD=±3.98), who regularly practiced sports and competed in all-Ukrainian and international sports tournaments. Respondents were divided into two groups based on gender: Group 1 – female representatives: handball, athletics (n=102; 55.74%); Group 2 – male representatives: football, freestyle wrestling, and weightlifting (n=81; 44.26%). Methods: valid and reliable psychodiagnostic methods used in sports research and standard purposeful non-participant observation. The following tests and coefficients were used to assess statistical reliability: Н-test of Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman correlation parameters (rs), ranking (Rg), and factor analysis ANOVA. Results. The Н-test of Kruskal-Wallis revealed differences in the studied parameters, disclosing that junior female athletes (Group 1) outperformed in (CN (H=7.717; p=.005), SSS (H=14.049; p=<.001) and PR (H=7.996; p=.005). Junior male athletes (Group 2) prevailed for GAL (H=9.041; p=.003) and DS (H=11.686; p=<.001). The correlation analysis revealed sixteen statistically significant associations. The ranking recorded the same first position in both samples: Group 1 – Op (Rg1; rs=.989) and Group 2 – Op (Rg1; rs=.982), and then the parameters were arranged differently. It was discovered that there was a statistically significant influence of negative relations of dispositional optimism/pessimism with protective mechanisms in stressful situations of the sports activity – Group 1: DS (Rg2; rs=-.982), CN (Rg4; rs=-.967), Ps (Rg9; rs=-.929) and Group 2: Ps (Rg7; rs=-.902). The subjects’ dispositional optimistic and pessimistic mental states were constructed into two-factor structures. The following mental states characterized the sample population of junior female athletes (Group 1): F1G1 – “Value-meaning disposition”; F2G1 – “Responsible and expected disposition”; F3G1 – “Protective-avoidant disposition”. A group of junior male athletes (Group 2) demonstrated the following mental states: F1G2 – “Value-meaning disposition”; F2G2 – “Responsible and expected disposition”; F3G2 – “Distant-confrontational disposition”. Conclusions. It is summarized that timely differentiation and identification of dominant mental states by coaching staff and athletes themselves can significantly increase sports psychological literacy, and affect not only local sports results but also the planning of a sports career and life position.