A study of participation motives in sports, loneliness and depression levels of children with specific learning disabilities in terms of some variables

Abstract

This study aims to examine the sport participation motivation, loneliness and depression levels of students with specific learning disabilities in terms of some variables. Screening model used in the study. The research group is constituted by 85 students who had been diagnosed with Specific Learning disabilities in Special Education and Rehabilitation Centers in Kocaeli province. Personal information form prepared by the researchers and developed by Gill, Gross and Huddleston (1983), and the Turkish validity and reliability study was made by Oyar, Aşçı, Çelebi and Mülazımoğlu (2001)."Sport Participation Motivation Scale", developed by Kovacs (1980) and the validity and reliability of the Turkish version was made by Öy (1991). "Depression Scale for Children" and developed Ashler ve Wheller (1985) and the validity and reliability of the Turkish version was made by Kaya (2005) "Loneliness Scale for Children” were used as the data collection tools. The sports participation motives, depression and loneliness levels of the participants have been evaluated in terms of age, gender, natural / adoptive parents, family's economic status, father's occupational status, number of people in the family, number of siblings, family attitude and the state of doing sport. In the evaluation of the research data, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA test and correlation analysis were used. In the findings, sports participation motives of participants were significantly differ according to the gender, family attitudes and the status of doing sports. Also according to the age, in loneliness level, and according to the number of siblings in the levels of loneliness and depression, significant differences were found. As a result of the correlation, a positive relationship between depression and loneliness status of the participants was found. Thus, in children at the 9-14 age range with specific learning disability it was concluded that the family attitude, number of siblings and to do sports have an impact in a positive way on the loneliness, depression and sports participation.