engleski

ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF YOUNG ATHLETES PARTICIPATING IN TEAM SPORTS IN THE TRANSITION FROM JUNIOR TO SENIOR LEVEL COMPETITION

The topic of this research was the quality of life of young athletes participating in team sports. Research was conducted on a sample of 38 young athletes involved in team sports, at an average age of 18.7. The Kidscreen - 27 questionnaire (The Kidscreen Group Europe, 2006 ; Lorger, 2011) was used to estimate the participants’ quality of life. Considering that the average age of study participants was slightly higher (18.7 yr.) than the hypothetical predicted age for the use of this questionnaire (from 8 to 18 years), the study was a pilot study whose purpose was to evaluate the metric characteristics of the questionnaire on a small sample of older subjects. The results were processed at two levels. At the descriptive level, the basic descriptive parameters were calculated, normality of distribution was tested by K - S test, and alpha coefficients of reliability were calculated, as well. Factor analysis isolated eight main components that were rotated with varimax normalized rotation. The original version of the questionnaire was determined with 5 dimensions (factors) of the quality of life and in this study, 6 factors were abstracted. The results indicated that the Croatian version of the questionnaire contains the following dimensions of the quality of life: school environment and fun with friends, factors of financial matters and success at school, factor of free time and good mood, physical well-being factor, factors of parental support and factors of moods and emotions. It was established that young athletes in this sample assessed their quality of life as high, in particular their state of health (4.23), the pleasant experience of life (4.10), relationships with parents (4.39 ; 4.36), financial matters and costs (4.15 ; 4.13), and entertainment, support and confidence in friends (4.00 ; 4.15 ; 4.02).

team sports, the Kidscreen -27 questionnaire, young athletes.

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