The effects of basketball training on children's self-esteem

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of basketball training on children’s self-esteem.
Subjects: A study group of 80 children was formed. The mean age of the children was 10.17 years.
Method: The data has been gathered by the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories (SEI) were adapted to Turkish by Pişkin (1996). The model of pre-test and post-test was used. During 12 weeks, children participated in a basic basketball exercise program twice a week. The Self-Esteem Inventory was administered to each child before and after 12 weeks. The paired samples t-test has used for the data analysis.
Results: The results of the paired samples t-test indicate that the post-test total scores of the children increased compare with the pre-test total scores (p=0.001).
Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that benefits of basketball exercise increase children’s self-esteem level. This result is supported with similar studies.

Full text

April 2013. Vol. 1, No.3 ISSN 2307-227X
International Journal of Research In Social Sciences
© 2013 IJRSS & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org/ijrss
35
THE EFFECTS OF BASKETBALL TRAINING ON CHILDREN’S SELF-
ESTEEM
Hasan Sözen1, Ajlan Saç2, Melek Kalkan3
1 Assist. Prof. Dr., University of Ordu School of Physical Education and Sports, Ordu/Turkey
2 Lecturer, University of Giresun Department of Physical Education and Sports, Giresun/Turkey
3 Assoc. Prof. Dr., Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Education, Samsun/Turkey
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the effects of basketball training on children’s self-esteem.
Subjects: A study group of 80 children was formed. The mean age of the children was 10.17 years. Method: The
data has been gathered by the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories (SEI) were adapted to Turkish by Pişkin
(1996). The model of pre-test and post-test was used. During 12 weeks, children participated in a basic
basketball exercise program twice a week. The Self-Esteem Inventory was administered to each child before and
after 12 weeks. The paired samples t-test has used for the data analysis. Results: The results of the paired
samples t-test indicate that the post-test total scores of the children increased compare with the pre-test total
scores (p=0.001). Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that benefits of basketball exercise increase
children’s self-esteem level. This result is supported with similar studies.
Keywords: Basketball Training, Self-Esteem, Children.
INTRODUCTION
Individuals with higher self –esteem are
the ones who can overcome difficulties, take risks,
see oneself as a whole with strong and weak points,
love and trust oneself, and believe that they have
right to be perceived so (Korkmaz, 2007). Human
beings have the ability to understand who they are
and they decide later whether they like the way they
are. Likewise, self-esteem is the result of evaluation
of the individuals’’ tendency towards learning,
cognitive programming and beliefs (Mc Kay and
Fanning, 1992). In other words, self –esteem is the
scale that shows how much people like themselves,
how successful they accept and respect themselves
(Harter, 1990).
Developing self-esteem may help
overcoming psychological and behavioral disorders
common among the kids and the young adults
(Ekeland et al., 2005). It is proven that workouts
are good for psychology as they are for physical
health. The studies on the subject show that
workouts have a positive effect on kids and young
adults’ self-esteem perception in a short time (Blair
et al., 1992; Biddle, 1993; Calfas and Taylor, 1994;
Pate et al., 1995; Sonuga et al., 1997; Erikssen et
al., 1998; Mutrie and Parfitt, 1998). According to
the results workouts may be used as a way to
develop kids and young adults’ self-esteem.
This study looks for an answer to the
question whether basketball has an effect on
children’s self-esteem.
METHOD
Sample: Sample group of the study
includes the children (n=80) who start playing
basketball in Golcuk Belediyespor Basketball
Schools in Kocaeli twice a week. They are 9-12
years old, 32 of them girls and 48 of them are boys,
and the average age in the group is 10.17.
Gathering Data: We have used the
Coppersmith Self-esteem Inventory in order to put
children’s’ self –esteem on a scale. There are 58
items on the inventory. Besides having a total point
concerning the self –esteem, the scale makes
possible to have data regarding five sub categories;
like overall self-esteem (26 items), social self-
esteem (8 items), home-parents self-esteem (8
items), school-academic self-esteem (8 items) and
false items (8 items). Expected answers are 1, and
the others are 0 point. False items do not measure
self-esteem; rather they try to determine how
defensive the person is. Therefore, false items are
not added to points gathered from self-esteem parts.
A maximum point of the scale is 50. The higher

April 2013. Vol. 1, No.3 ISSN 2307-227X
International Journal of Research In Social Sciences
© 2013 IJRSS & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org/ijrss
36
points show higher self-esteem, as the vice versa
(Coopersmith, 1991; Piskin, 1996).
The Inventory was given to the children on
the day they started playing basketball and after 12
weeks when they ended the training, as pre and
posttest.
Analysis of the Data: The data gathered
from the scale was analyzed via SPSS 14.0
Program Pack. Paired as pre and posttests, T-test
was used. The difference between the groups was
found between 0.05 and 0.001.
FINDINGS
Table: The results of t-test indicate that the pre-test and post-test of self-esteem inventory
N
X ± Std.D.
p
Overall Self-esteem
Pre Test
80
21.12 ± 3.35
-2.87
.005*
Post Test
80
22.23 ± 2.81
Social Self-esteem
Pre Test
80
5.61 ± 1.87
-2.16
.032*
Post Test
80
5.96 ± 1.61
Home-Parents Self - esteem
Pre Test
80
6.38 ± 1.21
-0.28
.775
Post Test
80
6.43 ± 1.63
School – Academic Self - esteem
Pre Test
80
6.60 ± 1.44
-1.54
.125
Post Test
80
6.83 ± 1.38
False Items
Pre Test
80
3.55 ± 1.07
-0.865
.389
Post Test
80
3.65 ± 0.80
Total
Pre Test
80
39.72 ± 5.58
-3.34
.001*
Post Test
80
41.46 ± 4.44
* P<0.05
According to the results found at the end
of the self-esteem inventory: there is a meaningful
difference between the points that children got
before and after the training (p=0.001). There is
another meaningful difference in the overall and
social self-esteem which are sub categories of the
inventory (p=0.005, p=0.032). However, home-
parents and school-academic self-esteem points do
not present a meaningful difference (p=0.775,
p=0.125).
CONCLUSION
According to the results of the study; basketball has
a positive effect on children’s self-esteem. 12
weeks of basketball training has helped children to
have higher level of self-esteem. Besides,
basketball is proven to have another positive effect
on the overall and social self-esteem. However, no
relations have been encountered between basketball
and home-parents and academic self-esteem.
There are similar studies stating that
workouts have a positive effect on children’s and
young adults’ self-esteem perception. Alper et al.
(1990) reported that eight weeks of aerobics
program has also beneficial for children’s self-
esteem.
Basile et al. (1995) divided the children
into three groups and named these as jogging,
basketball and non-exercise control groups for their
four weeks training. At the end of the study, it is
seen that the jogging and basketball groups have
higher self –esteem. Tuckman ve Hinkle (1986)
did a similar research trying a 12 weeks of
basketball, volleyball and running workouts to find
out the same result. Korkmaz (2007) reported that
increasing the habit of doing sports helps children
to have higher self-esteem. In increasing the self-
esteem, it is found out that sport is perceived as a
leisure rather than competition especially when it
comes to adolescents (Karakaya et al., 2006).
In conclusion, it is seen that basketball
training in the early years of childhood helps
children to develop self-esteem. Studies show that
increasing self-esteem has positive effect on other
psycho-social features. Future studies can focus on
the relations between the sport training and other
psycho-social features. Another lacking point of
this study is observation which can be a topic for
another study.
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April 2013. Vol. 1, No.3 ISSN 2307-227X
International Journal of Research In Social Sciences
© 2013 IJRSS & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org/ijrss
37
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Note: This study has been presented as an oral
presentation in 12th International Sport Sciences
Congress 12-14 December 2012 Denizli/Turkey.