THE EFFECTS OF BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SKILLS OF ATHLETES

Introduction and Aim: Psychological skills are one of the determining factors in an individual's sportive performance. The psychology of the athlete before, during and after the competition directly affects his or her performance in the competition. According to the theory of self- determination, satisfying the individual's basic psychological needs is necessary for individual growth, integration, development, mental health and wellbeing. It has become necessary to conduct a research on how effective the satisfaction of basic psychological needs in the development of psychological skills affecting the performance of the athlete during the competition can be achieved by going out of this theoretical way. In this context, it is aimed at investigating the effect of basic psychological needs on psychological skills of athletes. Method: A total of 150 athletes, 39 females and 111 males, participated in the research in various sports branches. “Assessment of Psychological Skills by Athletes Inventory” and “Basic Psychological Needs Inventory” have been conducted to athletes. Descriptive statistical analysis, t test, ANOVA and linear regression analysis have been used in the analysis of the data. Findings: As a result of the analyses, there is no significant difference on the gender basis according to the scores obtained from the “Assessment of Psychological Skills by Athletes Inventory”, while there is a significant difference in favor of the national athletes in terms of being national athletes (p=.004). Additionally, a linear regression analysis has been conducted to designate the extent to which the psychological needs of the athletes explain their psychological skills. According to the results, the basic psychological needs explains 22.1% of the total variance related to the psychological skills of the athletes (β=.479, t=6.629, p=.000). Result: Accordingly, it can be said that satisfying basic psychological needs will contribute to the development of basic psychological skills