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AD ALTA

JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

3 Results

a)

Relationship between enjoyment of physical activity, age
and perception of success

Table 1 Relationship between enjoyment of physical activity,
age and perception of success

Age

Perception of

success

Enjoyment

Enjoyment of

physical activity

-0.23*

0.15

12.27

47.34

47.41

1.89

7.86

4.43

Note: r - Pearson's correlation coefficient; * p<.05.

As seen in the Table 1 we can conclude that there is a significant
relationship between enjoyment of physical activity and age. The
strength of the relationship is small. The sports school students
from the research sample (from 11 to14 years old) differ in the
level of enjoyment of physical activity with higher enjoyment in
younger students.

b)

Differences in enjoyment of physical activity and
perception of success between team and individual sports

Table 2 Differences in enjoyment of physical activity and
perception of success between team and individual sports
athletes

Enjoyment of

physical

activity

Perception of

success

Team sports

47.25

51.09

(n1=52)

SD1

4.73

7.56

Individual sports

47.55

44.03

(n2=59)

SD2

4.18

6.58

-0.36

5.25

109

.710

.001

0.06

0.99

Note: M = Mean; SD = Standard deviation; t = Student's test; df
= Degrees of freedom; p = p value; d = Cohen’s d

As it can be seen in the Table 2, there is no significant difference
in enjoyment of physical activity between individual and team
sports athletes (t

(109)

= -0.36, p= .710). A significant difference

between the team sports athletes and the individual sports
athletes regarding perception of success (t

(109)

= 5.25, p= .001)

was identified. The team sports athletes report higher perception
of success than individual sports athletes. The value of Cohen’s
d represents a large effect, which means that these two groups of
athletes significantly differ in their perception of success.

4 Discussion

Enjoyment of physical activity is one of the regulators and is
defined as a positive affective reaction to a sporting experience
reflecting emotions such as joy, affection and fun (Ryska, 2003).

According to Slepička et al. (2011), if people do not experience
enjoyment of physical activity, their interest to continue in the
activity gradually declines.

Enjoyment of physical activity and age
The study results show there are some differences in enjoyment
of physical activity in relation to age. In their study, Sollár and
Romanová (2015) did not find any differences in enjoyment of
physical activity in relation to the studied periods – adolescence
and emerging adulthood. Ryan and Deci (2000) describe
intrinsic motivation as a natural tendency towards assimilation,
perfect mastery, spontaneous interest and exploration. These

elements are essential for the cognitive and social development,
and are a main source of enjoyment and vitality in life. Based on
the results, we can state there are some differences in enjoyment
of physical activity in relation to age in our sample. One of the
possible explanations is that enjoyment of performed activity is
present in us throughout our lives. The intensity may vary, there
are periods when we experience less enjoyment of physical
activity but on contrary there are periods when this state is really
intense. Due to the fact that in our sample the relationship
between age and enjoyment of physical activity is rather small
we can assume that enjoyment of physical activity might be
affected not just by age but definitely there are some other
important variables that influence experiencing this type
enjoyment, such as social factors or environments, where the
physical activity takes place (Crake, Hibbins and Cuskelly,
2010). Another possible explanation of this result is that the age
range of our sample was fairly narrow and that is why we could
not detect stronger relationship between these two variables.

Relationship between enjoyment of physical activity and
perception of success
We assumed a positive relationship between enjoyment of
physical activity and perception of success in students of the
sports high school. However, the assumption was not confirmed;
the results show there is not a positive relationship between
enjoyment of physical activity and perception of success in
student of sports school. A different conclusion was reported in
the study of McCarthy, Jones, and Clark-Carter (2007) where
they suggest that perception of one’s success is the main
predictor of enjoyment of physical activity. DeLong (2006)
supports the statement that the individuals who perceive their
success on a very low level are less active and do not experience
enjoyment of physical activity. Goméz-Lopéz, Granero-
Gallegos, Abraldes, and Rodríguez-Suárez (2013) state that task
orientation is positively related to intrinsic motivation
(enjoyment of physical activity). Younes-Alhourani (2015)
states that a relationship between enjoyment of physical activity
and perception of success was confirmed in adolescents – the
higher enjoyment of physical activity they had, the more
confident and aware of their abilities and skills they felt, which
increased perceptions of their success. Ryan and Deci (2000)
report that in perception of one’s success a positive feedback
increases intrinsic motivation and a negative feedback decreases

intrinsic motivation. Slepička et al. (2011) state several
psychological and social benefits of enjoyment of physical
activity. Enjoyment of physical activity positively affects self-
confidence, self-evaluation, and self-esteem. Moreover the pride
that stems from successful performance can boost the mood of
athletes. Another benefit of enjoyment of physical activity is
experiencing positive emotions related to the goal attainment.
Social benefits of enjoyment include receiving more social
support, social recognition and appreciation. Based on the results
that differ from our expectations, physical activity is an
inevitable part of athletes’ everyday functioning thus
experiencing enjoyment does not have to necessarily affect their
level of success perception.

Differences in enjoyment of physical activity and perception of
success between team and individual sports athletes
In the context of enjoyment of physical activity, we also wanted
to find out if there was a difference in enjoyment of physical
activity between individual and team sports. The study results
show there are no differences in enjoyment of physical activity
between individual and team sports athletes. A possible
explanation is that many children from the Sports High School
aged from 11 to 14 years, do more than just one sport. In our
study, intrinsic motivation and subsequently enjoyment of
physical activity are present in most athletes regardless the type
of sport – team or individual.

We studied perception of success form the perspective of the
theory of achievement motivation. Achievement motivation can
be described as a direction in which the individuals perceive
their ability to succeed in the context of goal attainment. There
are two basic orientations within achievement motivation: ego
orientation and task orientation (Hagger, Chatzisarantis, 2005).

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