An investigation of fear of COVID-19 status in university student athletes from different sports associated with contact

Abstract

Background and Study Aim The aim of this research is to (i) examine the COVID-19 fear scales according to the contact rate of the sports branch of the athletes and (ii) examine the COVID-19 fear scales according to some demographic variables of the athletes.

Material and Methods Sport Sciences Faculty students athletes (n=176) in sports with different levels of contact voluntarily participated in the current study. The fear of COVID-19 scale consisting of a total of 7 items and demographic information form and a single sub-dimension were applied online via Google (R) forms to individuals who participated in the study voluntarily. The data obtained from the study were analyzed using IBM SPSS 25.0 statistics package program. Due to the normal distribution of the data, sample t-test independent of parametric tests and one-way analysis of variance tests were used in the statistical analysis of the data. Bonferroni test, one of the multiple comparison tests, was used in order to determine which groups had significance according to the results of the one-way analysis of variance test. The results were tested at a significance level of p <0.05. The Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient for the COVID-19 fear scale was found to be 0.88.

Results Statistically significant difference was found between the fears of catching COVID-19 according to the gender of athletes in different branches (p = 0.01). No statistically significant difference was found between the fears of catching COVID-19 according to the educational status of the athletes (p = 0.31). No statistically significant difference found between the fears of catching COVID-19 according to the contact included in the specialty sports of the athletes in different branches (p = 0.56). Statistically significant difference was found between the highest level (professional) and intermediate level (amateur) groups) in terms of fear of catching COVID-19 (p = 0.02). No statistically significant difference found between the fears of catching COVID-19 (p = 0.08) of the athletes in different branches according to their sports experience. Statistically significant difference was found in terms of fear of catching COVID-19 between the 4-6 years and 7-9 years groups with sports experience (p = 0.02). In addition, it has been revealed that the average scores of COVID-19 fear scales (20.05 +/- 4.79) of female athletes are higher than the average scores of male athletes (17.67 +/- 6.75).

Conclusions: As a result, this research has revealed that the fear of COVID-19 does not differ relative to the contact levels of a specific sports branch. In addition, it has shown that the fear of COVID-19 is greater in female athletes compared to male athletes and lower performance levels and less competition experiences are in fact causing an increase in fear of COVID-19.