Comparison of Self-Esteem Levels of Athletes and Sedentary Individuals Who Studied at Universities

The objective of this study is to compare the self-esteem levels of athletes who do individual and team sports and sedentary individuals. University of Ondokuz May？s Yasar Do？u Faculty of Sport Sciences at studying, a total of 300 individuals, 100 athletes doing individual sports, 100 athletes doing team sports and 100 sedentary individuals who were not doing any sports studying at the Faculty of Education, participated in the study. As a study and data collecting method face to face conversation method, in order to find out the self-esteem levels of the participants, “Self-Esteem Scale” developed by Ar？cak (1999) was used. It was found that the “self-worth” and “depressive mood” values of athletes who were doing individual sports were statistically higher than those of athletes doing team sports and sedentary individuals (p<0.0166). No differences were found in any of the sub-dimensions of self-esteem levels in terms of gender and family’s monthly income. It was concluded that the self-esteem levels of athletes who were doing individual sports were higher than those of athletes who were doing team sports and sedentary individuals. Gender and family’s income level do not have an influence on self-esteem. Self-esteem levels of the individuals staying alone are lower than those who stay with their family or in the dormitory. The fact that the athletes who engage in individual sports have to struggle with their opponent alone requires more responsibility. This responsibility is thought to increase the athlete's self-esteem, giving the athlete more sense of self-confidence. If athletes dealing with team sports get the same responsibilities for their teams as well, and they are more confident in themselves, it will be inevitable to raise their self-esteem. It is also necessary for the sedanters to provide the necessary environment for sports and to increase the incentive