Effects of elite athletes’ aim orientation on basic psychological needs and fear of failure

Abstract

Purpose: This research was carried out in order to analyze elite athletes’ aim orientation, basic psychological needs and fear of failure in perspective of several variables, and to reveal the differences among these variables. Material and Methods: Sample of the research consisted of elite athletes from different branches who had been in different regions of Turkey in 2016-2017. Number of elite athletes in this research was (n=521) in total, 378 of whom were males and 173 of whom were females. These elite athletes had been chosen by random sampling. As data collection tools, Basic Psychological Needs Scale, which was adapted to Turkish by Kesici et al (2003), Fear of Failure Scale which was adapted to Turkish by Kahraman and Sungur (2016), Scale of Task and Ego Orientation in Sports that was adapted to Turkish by Toros (2004) were used in the study. Results. It was concluded that females had lower fear of “unclear future” and “experiencing shame and embarrassment” than males. It was revealed that as the age of the participants went up, their needs for relationship, fear of unclear future, fear of experiencing shame and embarrassment, and task orientation increase. It was found out that participants who had direct branches had higher “need for relationship” and “fear of unclear future” in comparison with the ones who had indirect branches. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, it was found that there was meaningful difference in sub-dimensional fear of failure in terms of gender variable, in sub-dimensional fear of failure, in basic psychological needs and in aim orientation with regards to age variable, in sub-dimensional basic psychological needs and in fear of failure in terms of branch variation (direct - indirect) variable.