ABSTRACT

Aim: The study aimed to investigate the effects of the self-talk of the athletes of all ages in the Curling National Team during competition on their perception of coping with stress..

Methods: In the first part, questions for demographic characteristics were used for the participants. In the second part, the self-talk scale developed by Zervas, Stavrou, and Psychountaki (2007) consisting of 11 items, 2 sub-dimensions, and a 5-point Likert was used. The scale was adapted to Turkish by Engür in 2011. In the third part, the scale of coping with stress developed by Moos (1993), which consists of 24 items, 5 sub-dimensions, and a 5-point Likert type was used. It was adapted to Turkish by Ballı and Kılıç (2016). While the study population was composed of the athletes in the Curling National Team, the sample group consisted of 106 athletes, of which 46 were women and 60 men.

Results: The linear regression analysis reveals that the self-talk predicted 27% of the perceptions of coping with stress. The results also show that self-talk (p=,896) and the perceptions of coping with stress (p=,377) did not show any difference by the variable of gender. The findings by the variable of age indicate that the self-talk (p=,053) and the attitudes to cope with stress (p=,005) were statistically significant.

Conclusion: According to the results of the correlation analysis, a low level and a positive significant relationship were observed between self-talk and coping with stress (r=302).