Optimism expression among sporting and non-sporting students of secondary school age

Scientific literature still lacks studies that analyse the optimism expression among sporting and nonsporting students of secondary school age. One of the major factors making a significant impact on students’ optimism expression development is physical activity. The paper strives to answer the question what is optimism expression among sporting and non-sporting students of secondary school age. Research in Lithuania reported that many children of school age have mental health problems. Mental health problems can have a profound influence on children’s development and affect their functioning at home, at school and in the community. The following hypothesis was tested: optimism expression of sporting students would be higher than of those non-sporting. The aim of this study was to examine the optimism expression among sporting and non-sporting students of secondary school age. Students of secondary school age (14-15 years old) were selected in randomized way from Kaunas district secondary schools: Garliava Jonučiai secondary school and Garliava Juozas Lukša gymnasium. The participants of the study were 342 sporting and non-sporting students of secondary school age (172 females and 170 males). Among them there were 178 sporting students and 164 non-sporting students. Respondents were divided by sports aspect into two groups: sporting students group (students, who attended sport schools and physical education lessons) and others – nonsporting students group (students, who attended only physical education lessons). The measure of optimism expression was evaluated using Dember’s Optimism/Pessimism Scale. Respondents were Respondents were divided by sports aspect into two groups: sporting students group (students, who attended sport schools and physical education lessons) and others – nonsporting students group (students, who attended only physical education lessons). The measure of optimism expression was evaluated using Dember’s Optimism/Pessimism Scale. Respondents were given 56 items that had to be evaluated under 4-point Likert scale. The reliability of this scale in our study was adequate: Cronbach’s alpha was 0.791 for optimism expression. The statistical hypotheses were tested by applying Student’s t-test. The hypothesis that optimism expression of sporting students would be higher than of those non-sporting students was confirmed. The optimism expression among sporting students of secondary school age was higher (p<0.05) than among non-sporting students. When evaluating the optimism expression among sporting and non-sporting boys and sporting and non-sporting girls of secondary school age, it was found that secondary school age boys, who played sport, were more optimistic (p