European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science ISSN: 2501 - 1235 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1235 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu 10.5281/zenodo.162455 Volume 2│Issue 4│2016 THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS AGE AND THE LEVELS OF NARCISSISM LEVELS OF FEMALE ATHLETES Ünsal Tazegül1, Merve Ferah2i Vocational high school, İstanbul Gelişim University, Turkey 1 Faculty of Sport, İstanbul University, Turkey 2 Abstract: The aim of this study is to reveal the dimensions of interaction between female athletes’ sports age and their narcissism levels. The narcissism levels of students who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study have been measured through 16-question Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-16) which has been coordinated by Daniel R. Ames, Paul Rose and Cameron P. Anderson in 2005. The validity and the reliability of the Inventory have been done by Salim Atay in 2009. For analyses of the data, Portable IBM SPSS Statistics v20 software package was used. The descriptive analysis, correlation and regression analysis were used in data analysis. At the end of the study, it was observed that there is a relationship between sports age and narcissism scores of athletes in sample group. Keywords: narcissism, sports age, female athlete 1. Introduction Narcissistic personality is defined as the person who admires his physical and psychological characteristics and is so much full of himself (Güney, 1998: 198, Hançerlioğlu, 1993: 258). According to Freud, he describes narcissism as libidinal investment from the outside world by pulling one's self directed and he talks about two kinds of narcissism. Primary narcissism is described as the child's libidinal investment in external objects, not of selfdirected and that all children have to go through such a specific maturation Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved Published by Open Access Publishing Group ©2015. 36 Ünsal Tazegül, Merve Ferah THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS AGE AND THE LEVELS OF NARCISSISM LEVELSOF FEMALE ATHLETES process. According to Freud, primary narcissism and libidinal energy are found in self/ego from the start and they are not directed to the objects. This situation is followed by swelling of the self accompanied by feelings of being powerful and precise. Freud also defined secondary narcissism as relationship difficulties and frustrations as a result of acts of the next process, which is made of the libidinal investment in the outside World and withdrawing from people, directed to self/ego (Geçtan, 2004:254). Narcissistic athletes are the people who admire themselves physically and mentally, see themselves above, expect continuous appreciation, interest and approval, they will meet exclusive of interest wherever they go and think that they deserve the superior place. Such intense narcissistic injuries and disappointments in expectations is also often the inevitable reality. Narcissistic self-esteem of individuals are fed from outside interests, tastes, approvals. People in question can not stand criticisms and anticipate for constant praises. For this reason, their apperances and manners are formed to grasp all these. Since they make use of the others for glorifiying, seem to be superior and reveal themselves; their friendships are just to get benefit from the others in this way. Narcissistic athletes are known as selfish, egocentric since they do not show empathy towards emotions, thoughts and needs of others (Tazegül, 2013e). Narcissism may sometimes affect the performance of the athletes positively. Narcissistic athletes themselves feel valuable, and their admiration for others to gain advantage depends on the capabilities of reveal themselves. They reveal their superiority by exhibiting the best movements that they perform in the sports field and try to attract attention. They are less interested in being loved and cared when compared to other people. Therefore, narcissistic athletes behave combatant and self assertive during the competition in order to avoid the destruction of their self-esteem due to performance failure. The most important thing for a narcissistic athlete is to win. They also apply for unethical behaviors in order to acquire the targeted objective (Wallace & Baumeister, 2002). 2. Material and Method 2.1 The Sample The sample group of the study was composed of a total of 98 athletes who voluntarily participated in the study and have professional careers in sports like volleyball, basketball, karate, bodybuilding and tennis. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 2 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 37 Ünsal Tazegül, Merve Ferah THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS AGE AND THE LEVELS OF NARCISSISM LEVELSOF FEMALE ATHLETES 2.2 Research Data Collection Narcissistic Personality Inventory composed of 16 questions and translated into Turkish by Salim Atay in 2009 was used as a scale factor. NPI composed of 16 questions was arranged by Daniel R. Ames, Paul Rose ve Cameron P. Anderson in 2005 translated into Turkish by Salim Atay. After the pilot application by Atay Cronbach's Alpha value was determined as 0,57 in the first performed study. Reliability coefficient below the values expected due to the presence of each factor scale, the negative correlation is detected and evaluated and determined not provide additive scale of four, were revised statement. After the measurements performed this change Cronbach's Alpha value was raised to 0,652. The questions in 16 questions scale factor translated into Turkish by Atay also distributed in 6 factors as superiority, authority, pretension, self sufficiency and exploitation similar to the 16 questions NPI English version. The points that can be gained from NPI are: extent of authority 0-2, extent of exhibitionism 0-3, extent of exploration 0-3, extent of pretension 0-2, extent of self-sufficiency 0-3, extent of superiority 0-3, total narcissism is between 0-16 points. As the point increases the level of narcissism also increases (Atay, 2010). 2.3 The Analysis of Data For analyses of the data, SPSS Statistics v20 software package was used. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test was applied in order to decide whether data has normal distribution and it is observed that data has a normal distribution. One-Way ANOVAHomogeneity of Variance was applied to test the homogeneity of variances and it is also observed that data is homogeneous. After the earlier analysis, it was decided to use parametric test methods for statistical analysis. For the analysis of data, the descriptive statistics and Pearson Correlation and regression analysis were applied. 3. Findings Table 1: The Findings of Descriptive Analysis Sports age N Mean Std. Deviation 1-6 36 6,6667 3,47234 7-9 30 7,9000 2,79593 10 years and older 32 10,0476 3,86622 According to the results of descriptive statistical analysis, narcissism score of 1-6 years of sports age for female athletes was found as (6,6667 ± 3,47234), narcissism score of 7-9 years of sports age for female athletes was found as (7,9000 ± 2,79593) and narcissism European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 2 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 38 Ünsal Tazegül, Merve Ferah THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS AGE AND THE LEVELS OF NARCISSISM LEVELSOF FEMALE ATHLETES score of 10 years and older of sports age for female athletes was found as (7,9000 ± 2,79593). Table 2: Correlation Analysis Narcissism Sports Pearson Correlation age ,366** Sig. (2-tailed) ,000 N 87 According to the result of correlation analysis, positive correlation was found between sports age and their narcissism levels of female athletes. Table 3: The regression analysis indicating cause and effect relationship between narcissism and sports age Model Summary Model R R Adjusted R Square Square 1 ,366a ANOVA Std. Error of the Estimate ,134 ,124 Sum of Squares Df 3,34604 a Model Mean F Sig. 13,184 ,000b t Sig. 5,422 ,000 3,631 ,000 Square 1 Regression 147,607 1 147,607 Residual 951,657 85 11,196 Total 1099,264 86 Coefficientsa Model 1 Unstandardized Standardized Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error (Constant) 4,898 ,903 Spor Yaşı 1,647 ,454 Beta ,366 According to the result of regression analysis carried out, statistically significant cause and effect relationship was found between narcissism score and sports age of athletes in the scope of the sample group. Discussion and Conclusion According to the result of descriptive statistical analysis, narcissism scores of 10 years and older of sports age for female athletes are higher than narcissism scores of 1-6 and 7-9 years of sports age for female athletes. Based on data obtained, it could be said that European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 2 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 39 Ünsal Tazegül, Merve Ferah THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS AGE AND THE LEVELS OF NARCISSISM LEVELSOF FEMALE ATHLETES 10 and older years of sports age for female athletes are more likely to praise their physical and psychological characteristics and they are always to be praised and they want to be in the forefront in the community in comparison to other female athletes in the sample group. According to correlation analysis which is done to determine the direction and intensity of relationship between sports age and narcissism, it was found that there is a positive and mid-level relationship. According to regression analysis which is done to reveal the cause and effect relationship between sports age and narcissism, statistically significant difference was found in terms of cause and effect relationship. According to literature research carried out, some studies in parallel with the study data were found. Some of these studies were given below: Tazegül (2013) reveal the relationship between narcissism score and self-esteem of female badminton players and at the end of the study, positive correlation was found between athletes’ narcissism and self-esteem scores. Tazegül (2013a) determined weightlifters’ narcissism level as (7.283 ± 2.786) and boxers as (7.216 ± 2.584). Tazegül (2013b) found that there is a positive relationship between boxers’ narcissism and motivation orientation. Tazegül et al. (2013c) determined wrestlers’ narcissism level (6.707 ± 2.775). Tazegül (2013a) found a positive correlation between Greco-Roman wrestlers’ sports age and narcissism scores. Tazegül (2012) compared narcissism levels of 4-5 and 6-8 years of sports age for freestyle wrestlers and found statistically significant difference. Tazegül and Soykan (2013d) observed that narcissism scores of athletes for 16 age group are higher than narcissism scores of athletes for 17 and 18 age group and narcissism scores of 8 years and older of sports age for athletes are also higher than narcissism scores of 8 years and older of sports age for athletes. Tazegül and Güven (2015) compared narcissism levels of bodybuilding athletes, athletes with different sport branches and individuals who are not engaged in sports and at the end of comparison, it is found that narcissism levels of bodybuilding athletes are higher than narcissism levels of individuals who are in the sample group and not engaged in sports. Gezer (2014) found narcissism level of students at the School of Physical Education and Sports of Mustafa Kemal University as 6.83. Elman et al. (2003) determined narcissism levels of football players as 19.4, basketball and rugby players as 17.8 and individuals who are not engaged in sports as 15.2. Athletes are more narcissistic than individuals who are not engaged in sports, so the most important reason is that athletes are thought that they have nice and aesthetic appearance. Sohrabi et al. (2011) compared the narcissism levels of athletes engaged in in-contact sports (boxing and karate) and non-contact sports (swimming and gymnastics) and statistically significant difference was found. Arthur et al. (2011) found narcissism level European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 2 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 40 Ünsal Tazegül, Merve Ferah THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS AGE AND THE LEVELS OF NARCISSISM LEVELSOF FEMALE ATHLETES of coaches as 13.37. Tschanz et al (1998) reported that men are more narcissistic than women. Tammy et al (2007) found that men are more narcissistic than women. Stankiewicz and Pawłowska (2010) reveal that narcissism levels of women who do regularly exercises are higher than individuals who are not athlete. As a result, it is observed that narcissism levels of 10 years and older of sports age for athletes are higher than other athletes in the scope of the study. 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European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science - Volume 2 │ Issue 4 │ 2016 43 Ünsal Tazegül, Merve Ferah THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPORTS AGE AND THE LEVELS OF NARCISSISM LEVELSOF FEMALE ATHLETES Creative Commons licensing terms Authors will retain the copyright of their published articles agreeing that a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) terms will be applied to their work. Under the terms of this license, no permission is required from the author(s) or publisher for members of the community to copy, distribute, transmit or adapt the article content, providing a proper, prominent and unambiguous attribution to the authors in a manner that makes clear that the materials are being reused under permission of a Creative Commons License. Views, opinions and conclusions expressed in this research article are views, opinions and conclusions of the author(s). 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