The effect of sports participation on social competence to alleviate loneliness

• Main Author: Lee, Trevis Hong Zhou
• Other Authors: Kawabata Masato
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Social sciences::Sociology::Social psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/78822
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of sports participation since secondary school on social competence to alleviate loneliness in university students. It has been hypothesized that students who have participated in organised sports since secondary school have a higher perceived social competence compared to students who did not participate in them. It was also hypothesized that there would be differences in gender and in team and individual sports. 100 Nanyang Technological University students were surveyed, consisting of 50 male (M = 23.48, S.D = 1.729) and 50 females (M = 22.02, S.D = 1.040). Among the 66 people that participated in organized sports since secondary school, 35 students participated in team sports and 31 students participated in individual sports. Findings have shown students who have participated in sports have statistically significant higher perceived social competence (F(1, 96) = 4.991, p = .028) and lower feelings of loneliness compared to students who did not participate in sports since secondary school (F (1, 96) = 6.643, p = .011< .05). Men generally feel lonelier than women (F (1, 96) = .4.432, p = .038 < .05), attributing personal failure and negative self-evaluations to loneliness. Students in team sports have statistically significant higher social competence compared students in individual sports (F (1, 62) = 5.041, p = .028 < .05). In conclusion, sports participation was effective in decreasing feelings of loneliness, increasing perceived social competence, with higher perceived competence shown in team sports compared to individual sports. Keywords: sports participation, loneliness, social competence, team sports