THE EMPATHY LEVELS OF WOMEN PLAYING IN BASKETBALL LEAGUES AND THE LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTICS OF THEIR COACHES

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the basketball players’, active in Turkey Women’s Basketball Super and 1st Leagues, empathy levels according to their marital status, educational status in addition to age and marital status of their coach; and to evaluate leadership characteristics and behavior of their coaches according to athlete’s perception. Another aim was to analyze the relation between empathy levels of the athletes and athletes’ perception of coaching behavior. 264 (age; 24.61±5.53 year) female athletes playing in Turkey Women’s Basketball Super and 1st Leagues participated in this study. Leadership Scale for Sports (LSS)-version of Athletes’ Perception of Coaching Behavior that developed by Chelladurai and Saleh, and adapted by Tiryaki and Toros in 2006 was used as data collection tool. Athletes’ perceptions of leadership style and behavior of their coach were evaluated in five different factors. A five-factor solution with 40 items describing the most salient dimensions of coaching behavior was selected as the most meaningful. Empathy levels of the athletes were determined by using Emphatic Tendency Scale which was developed by Dökmen (1988) and composed of 20 items. Empathy levels of the athletes showed no statistically significant difference in terms of any variable (p>0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in athletes’ perceptions of coaching behaviors in terms of marital status of the athlete and age of their coach (p>0.05). In terms of educational status of athletes and marital status of their coach, there were statistically significant differences in athletes’ perceptions of coaching behaviors (p<0.05 and p<0.01). Positive and meaningful correlation was found between empathy scores of the athletes and training and instruction behavior (r=.172**) and autocratic behavior (r=.154*) of the coach (p<0.05 and p<0.01). Educational status of the athletes and marital status of their coach are influental in athletes’ evaluation of their perceptions of coaching behavior. Empathy levels of the athletes are related to their perceptions of coaching behavior.