Examination of Sports Self-Regulation, Motivational Determination, and Decision-Making Styles in University Students

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the sports self-regulation skills and decision-making skills of students studying at sports science faculties. The study was carried out with a sample group of 224 volunteer participants from Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Sports Sciences. 35.7% (n=80) of the participants were women and 64.3% (n=144) were men. In the study, it was collected with the "Sports Self-Regulation Scale" to measure sports self-regulation skills, the "Motivational Determination Scale" and the "Rational and Decision-Making Styles Scale" to measure decision-making skills. In the analysis of the data, mean, standard deviation, minimum-maximum-median were calculated from descriptive statistics. Mann Whitney U was used in intergroup comparisons and Spearman Correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between variables. Linear regression analysis was performed with the variables found significant in univariate analyses. According to the results obtained, students' sports self-regulation skills predict their motivational determination. Again, students' sports self-regulation skills predict both rational decision-making and intuitive decision-making styles. While women have a more intuitive decision-making style than men, men have a more rational decision-making style than women. According to the data obtained in the research, it is recommended that self-regulation trainings should be conducted to improve students' decision-making skills.