Social self-efficacy of adolescents who participate in individual and team sports

This study was conducted to compare different variables of social self-efficacy (SSE) as determinants for adolescents in selecting and taking part in team and individual sports. Four sporting codes were selected for study: table tennis, swimming, handball, and basketball. Participants were 100 adolescents who had played their chosen sport for an average of 5.4 years. Results showed that the difference in SSE between those playing table tennis and those playing handball was significant, as was the difference between those playing table tennis and those playing basketball, swimming and handball, swimming and basketball. No statistical difference was found in SSE between those playing table tennis and those involved in swimming, and handball and basketball. Likewise, there was no statistically significant difference between SSE scores according to gender for any of the sports. Nor was there any significant difference between the socioeconomic status (SES) of the participants according to the sport they played and the arithmetic average of their SSE scores. A negative correlation was noted (p > .05) between the sporting code and the SES of participants.