Relationships Between Emotional Intelligence, Mental Skills and Techniques: A Research on Professional Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships between the levels of mental skills and techniques of university students, who continue their sports life as licensed in different sports branches, and the emotional intelligence in sports. A total of 169 athletes, 91 male (53.8%) (M-age=25.36 +/- 6.06) and 78 female (46.2%) (M-age=23.03 +/- 4.98), who continue their professional sports life in different sports branches, voluntarily participated in the research. The research was designed in relational screening model. Personal Information Form, Mental Training Inventory in Sport, and Emotional Intelligence Inventory in Sport, which were created by the researchers, were used as data collection tools within the scope of the research. In the analysis of the data, firstly, the skewness and kurtosis values were checked for the normality assumptions and it was determined that the distribution was normal. In this direction, t-test was used to compare two independent groups, Pearson correlation analysis was used to determine the relationships between the variables, and multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the power of the independent variables in predicting the dependent variable. When the findings obtained within the scope of the research were examined, it was determined that the emotional intelligence sub-dimensions significantly predicted the components of mental training skills and techniques. In this context, a result was obtained that as the level of emotional intelligence increases, the levels of mental training skills and techniques will also increase. However, when the analyzes for demographic variables were examined within the scope of the research, it was determined that there was a significant difference within the groups. As a result, it is recommended to include programs on emotional intelligence and mental training skills and techniques in the training of athletes in order to achieve the optimal range of sportive performance.