Religiosity and Female Participation in Sport: Exploring the Perceptions of the Turkish University Students

Abstract

Background and Study Aim: This exploratory study tried to find out religiosity levels and perceptions of Turkish university students on female participation in sport. It also aimed to point out the possible relationship between religiosity and female participation in sport. Material and Methods: For this purpose, 412 university students attending to different faculties in Bartin University in Turkey completed Religiosity Inventory and Female Participation in Sport Questionnaire. The findings derived from both scales were evaluated using SPSS 22.0 program through descriptive statistics, t-Test and Anova Tests, and the relationships between two scales were calculated using Pearson Correlation Test and Regression Analysis. Gender and field of study were used as variables to elaborate the results of the scales. Results: According to the findings of the research, it was found that the university students had very high religiosity level and very positive perception of female participation in sport. Moreover, the study pointed out there is a weak positive correlation between the religiosity and female participation in sport which was contradictory to the study hypotheses of this research. Conclusions: As a conclusion, this study conveyed that religiosity does not have a negative effect on the female participation in sport.