Sense of Self-Worth and Executive Aspects of the Self Among Female Handball Players and Physical Education Students

Abstract

Introduction. The ambiguous results of research and various contradictory conclusions resulting from them, motivate researchers to undertake further attempts at analyses that could shed additional light on personality determinants of sports success. The authors of the study made 3 dimensions of personality the subject of their research – signifi cant from the point of view of achieving high sports results: self-esteem, hope for success and self-effi cacy. Objective. The aim of the study was to investigate self-esteem and selected personality traits describing the executive functions of the self and empirical verifi cation of the relationship between variables among female handball players and physical education students. Material and methods. The study comprised 3 groups of women: the fi rst – 33 female handball players aged 15-32, players of 1st league sports teams with an average training experience of over 10 years. The second – 42 female physical education students. The control group (non-training), consisted of female 39 philology students. In total, 114 women were included in the study. The following were used: the Polish adaptation of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES), the Hope for Success Questionnaire (KNS) by Łaguna, Trzebiński and Zięba, modelled on the basis of the Hope Scale by Snyder et al., and the Polish version of the Generalised Self-Effi cacy Scale (GSES) created by Schwarzer and Jerusalem. Results. Handball players do not diff er in their personality dimensions from female students of physical education, but they have greater willpower than non-trained women. In turn, physical education students, compared to the control group, are characterised by higher self-esteem, greater hope for success (greater willpower and the ability to fi nd solutions) and they have a stronger belief in their own effi cacy. Statistically signifi cant, positive correlations between self-esteem and features describing executive aspects of the self were found in all 3 groups of respondents. Similarly, in all 3 groups of women, a direct relationship between two-dimensional hope for success and self-effi cacy was observed. Conclusions. The study may be a contribution to research on the personality of handball players and have practical applications, being of interest to sports psychologists and coaches working with handball players.