AN EXAMINATION OF EMOTIONAL AND CREATIVE LEVELS AMONG TERTIARY STUDENTS IN TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL SPORTS

The primary objective of this research was to investigate the effect of emotional states on creativity levels tertiary students in team and individual sports. The study further aimed to discern the various emotional states and creativity levels prevalent among athletes, contingent on different variables. The participants comprised 302 athletes, 162 males and 140 females, who were all registered students in the Faculty of Sports Sciences at Bayburt University. In order to gather demographic data, the researchers constructed a “Personal Information Form”. The “Sports Emotion Scale”, developed by Urfa and Aşçı (2019), was utilized to assess the emotional states of the athletes within their respective sports. To evaluate their creativity levels in sports, the “Creativity Scale for Athletes”, constructed by Güngör et al. (2020), was utilized. Data analysis incorporated frequency analysis for determining the participants' demographic attributes, and descriptive tests for establishing the mean scores of both emotional states and creativity levels in sports. The independent t-tests were used to compare emotional and creativity levels based on gender and sport type. One-way ANOVA tests were used to compare emotional and creativity levels based on educational level and years of sports experience. Post-hoc comparisons were facilitated using Tukey tests to identify specific group differences. Lastly, multiple linear regression analysis was applied to scrutinize the impact of emotional states on creativity levels in sports. The research findings indicate that athletes participating in team sports demonstrated higher levels of enthusiasm and happiness, as determined by the sub-dimensions of the Sports Emotion Scale, when compared to athletes participating in individual sports. In addition, it was noted that an increase in feelings of unhappiness among athletes corresponded to a decrease in their levels of sports creativity. Conversely, a surge in enthusiasm was associated with heightened creativity levels within sports.