CISM International Symposium 2009
CORRELATION BETWEEN SPORT,
MOTIVATION FOR SPORT, GENERAL
HEALTH, SATISFACTION WITH WORK AND
LIFE IN SLOVENIAN ARMED FORCES
Tkavc Suzana, M.Sc., Ministry of Defence, Headquaters of Slovenian Armed Forces, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Tušak Matej, Ph.D., University of Ljubljana, Faculty of sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia (e-mail:
[email protected]), SPORT PSYCHOLOGY
Masten Robert, Ph.D., University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Dimec Tjaša, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of sport, Ljubljana, Slovenia
INTRODUCTION
•
The army represents a special area of a person's life and work with specific
working conditions, which require a lot of mental and physical strain.
•
The armies worldwide have been increasingly integrating and performing
common tasks, such as peacekeeping in war zones or common actions in
combat in different war zones of the world with various conditions (climatic,
geographic, cultural, etc.). For that an individual has to be well-prepared for
such conditions.
•
Numerous researches (Diener et al., 1997; Myers & Diener, 1995) stated
that people, who are more satisfied, are also more successful in various
areas of life; satisfaction is related to successful outcomes.
• We wanted to examine various psychological characteristics of life
and work in the Slovenian Armed Forces. (human resources in SA)
• The basic aim of the research was to discover the meaning of sport,
its value among the soldiers and officers and its motivational effect
and the correlation between sport in the army and general health
and satisfaction with life.
• We also tried to research the positive effects of sport on the work
efficiency in the Slovenian Armed Forces.
METHOD
PARTICIPANTS
• 141 employees of the Slovenian Armed Forces (75 soldiers and 66
officers) collaborated in the research. In our sample were included
employees of Slovenian army from different units (Ljubljana,
Maribor, Kranj, Vrhnika, Slovenska Bistrica, Postojna in Bohinjska
Bela).
INSTRUMENTS
• - Participation Motivation Questionnaire: PMQ (Gill, Gross &
Huddleston, 1983) with a list of 30 potential motives or reasons for
sports participation.
THE BENEFITS OF SPORT
• Better motivation
• Better reaction in stress, coping stress
managment
• More emotional stable behavior
• Less anxiety and depression
• Better social skills
• Time management
• Better in coping with success and failures
• Etc.
A STORY OF SUCCES
SELF IMAGE
SELF ESTEEM
SELF CONFIDENCE
MOTIVATION =
SC X GOALS
• Satisfaction With Life Scale – SWLS (Diener, Emmons, Larsen &
Griffin, 1985). The scale consists of five items to which an individual
has to answer on the scale from 1 (not true at all) to 7 (completely
true).
• General Health Questionnaire - GHQ (Goldberg, 1972). The
instrument was adapted for use for the purpose of this study. It
consists of 13 questions to which the participant has to answer on a
scale from 1 (not at all) to 5 (a lot more than usually). A high number
of points means absence or lack of health.
• Self-motivation Inventory (Dishman, Ickes & Morgan; 1980)
includes 40 statements.
• Work Efficiency Scale; It is composed of 19 statements to which
the participant answers on a five level scale (1 not true at all for me
and 5 completely true for me).
• Work Efficiency Scale; It is composed of 19 statements
to which the participant answers on a five level scale (1
not true at all for me and 5 completely true for me).
• Values Scale (Musek, 1993, 2000); It is composed of 54
items, which represent 54 independent values.
• For finding out the intention of points of view on sport we
composed The Point Of View Scale On Sport (SS)
(Tušak & Korenjak, 2006). It is composed of 35
statements (e.g. "I like competing at competitions", "Sport
represents enjoyment to me").
• We made questionnaire concerning intention for
abandonment of workplace (IAW)(Celin, 2006). It consists
of 10 statements.
• The participants forwarded us some demographic data
(age, body weight and height,…) and data about their
work in the army (distance from work, satisfaction with the
occupation…).
PROCEDURE
• After previous agreement with the Slovenian Armed
Forces and their consent to collaborate in the research,
we collected data in different units.
• The subjects filled in the questionnaires individually and
considering the instruction added.
• Statistical analysis of data was made with SPSS
RESULTS
Table 1
Pearson's coefficients of correlation between motives, values, self-motivation, health, work
efficency, satisfaction with life and the point of view on sport with some demographic
variables
Distance from
Quantity of
Satisfaction
Wish to stay in
Variables
work
occupation time
with the
SA
in SA
occupation in
SA
BMI
,02
,10
,10
,30**
SMI
-,06
,29**
,42**
,34**
SWLS
-,15
,28**
,37**
,31**
IAW
,16
-,23**
-,58**
-,65**
GHQ
,07
,05
-,22**
-,21**
WE
-,16
,33**
,44**
,38**
SS
,04
,09
,37**
,30**
Legend: BMI – Body Mass Index; SMI – Self-motivation Inventory; SWLS - Satisfaction with life scale; IAW Intention for abandonment of workplace; GHQ – Health; WE – Work Efficency; SS – The point of view scale
on sport; ** p < 0,01.
Table 2
Pearson's coefficients of correlation between motives and some demographic variables.
Wish to stay in
Satisfaction
Quantity of
Distance from
Variables
SA
with the
occupation time
work
occupation in
in SA
SA
,10
-,15
M1
,25**
,28**
,06
-,11
M6
,32**
,35**
,21
,04
-,12
M8
,28**
,02
-,02
M10
,32**
,31**
,13
-,03
M18
,40**
,36**
,05
-,03
M22
,32**
,26**
,11
-,13
M24
,29**
,33**
,04
-,09
M27
,24**
,24**
Legend: M1 – motive 1, M2 – motive 2… (PMQ; ** p < 0,01.
FINDINGS
• We've also found out that individuals who are more
satisfied with employment in the Slovenian Armed
Forces are more satisfied with life, healthier, more
effective in their work and more self-motivated. They
also do not think about leaving their work place. They
have a very positive point of view on sport, and they are
involved with sport activity in the Slovenian Armed
Forces because they like comradely spirit, wishing to
remain in a good shape, be physically fit and healthy, to
improve their skills and learn new skills, they like being
the part of the group (team) and they also like the
coaches and leaders.
Table 3
Pearson's coefficients of correlation between values and some demographic variables.
Distance from
Quantity of
Satisfaction
Wish to stay in
Variables
work
occupation time
with the
SA
in SA
occupation in
SA
V3
-,02
,16
,22
,22**
V4
,13
,19
,25**
,23**
V7
,05
,11
,34**
,29**
V12
-,18
,18
,27**
,24**
V13
-,10
,08
,21
,24**
V15
,01
,03
,32**
,26**
V17
,04
-,18
-,20
-,25**
V18
,04
,05
,29**
,28**
V19
,00
,24**
,29**
,24**
V23
,09
,05
,20
,32**
V24
,04
-,01
,23**
,26**
V30
,04
-,07
,18
,23**
V40
,01
-,31**
-,26**
-,29**
V42
,00
,07
,21
,33**
V44
-,03
,24**
,28**
,22**
V52
-,10
-,01
-,03
,28**
Legend: V1 – value 1, V2 – value 2 (Values Scale); ** p < 0,01.
FINDINGS
• In a view of value orientation, we can say that
those who wish to remain in the Slovenian
Armed Forces highly value diligence, patriotism,
sport and recreation, loyalty, cohabitation and
peace between people, respect the laws,
harmony with nature, love of children, nationality
pride and sport and movement. On the other
hand, those who do not wish to stay in the
Slovenian Armed Forces, highly value a
comfortable life and good food and drink.
Table 4
Correlation between point of view on sport and work efficiency, lack of health and
satisfaction with life
work efficiency
lack of health
satisfaction with life
Variables
-,14
,22
point of view on
,31**
sport
Legend: ** p < 0,01.
CONCLUSIONS
• Longer employed in Slovenian Armed Forces are also more
satisfied with their lifes, more efficient at work, with bigger selfmotivation, not thinking about leaving their work place. About the
value orientation the results showed that they also highly value
moral principles, respect the laws, nationality pride, enjoyment in the
art and on the other hand they care very little about food and drink.
• Individuals who are more satisfied with employment in the Slovenian
army are more satisfied with life, healthier, more effective in their
work and more self-motivated.
• Individuals who have more positive point of view on sport are also
more interested, reliable and effective at work.
• Through these results we can confirm very positive effects of sport
on the general life and work in the army. New researches should
follow to discover more directions for practical suggestions.
SPORT AS A MODEL OF
PERSISTENCE BEHAVIOR,
SEEKING FOR CHALENGES