Comparison of trait anger and anger expression of Blind Athletes

International Journal of Sport Studies. Vol., 3 (2), 156-162, 2013 Available online at http: www.ijssjournal.com ISSN 2251-7502 2013 VictorQuest Publications Comparison of trait anger and anger expression of Blind Athletes Atalay GACAR Assistant Prof, School of Physical Education and Sports, Fırat University, Turkey Corresponding author, Email: agacar35@hotmail.com Abstract This research for the visually impaired whom exercise different sports branches, trait anger and anger expression were investigated. 150 male sight-disabled sportsmen who took part in Goal ball, B1, B2-B3 Futsal, Athletics and Judo competitions that are included in 2011-2012 season activity program of Turkish Blind Sport Federation have voluntarily participated in the research. Personal Information Form has been created to obtain information belonging to the sightdisabled who participated in the research. For determining the trait anger and anger expression styles of the individuals, on the other hand, Trait Anger Anger Expression Styles Scale, which was developed by Spielberger in 1983 and validity and reliability of which was proved by Özer (1994) for our country, has been used. These forms were filled one by one by being converted to Braille alphabet and with the help of asking questions face to face to each sight-disabled sportsman. The obtained data were assessed by means of SPSS statistics package program and their level of significance is taken as (p<0.05). As a result of the research, no significant difference was found between the branches of sports and trait anger anger expression styles of sight-disabled individuals who participated in the research. A significant difference was detected between the sight-disabled individuals sport year, how they identify themselves, the attitude of their families towards them and trait anger anger expression styles scores. Key Words: Sight-Disabled, Sport, anger, trait anger, anger expression styles Introduction Another important tool for meeting the psychological needs of the human, which is a social being, is sports. An individual recognizes his or her unexplored characteristics by means of sports and sets his or her creative side in motion (Kuru et al., 2008; Kuru, 2004). It is indicated in the researches that have been done that sport expedites the processes of being respectful to each other, obeying the rules, cooperation, acting independently, and self-discipline, being zealous and decisive and socializing (Kuru et al., 2006). With all these characteristics, sport is not only extremely beneficial and necessary for healthy people but also for the disabled individuals. The authors philosophically evaluating the benefits of participating in the physical activities for the disabled mostly emphasize its contributions to affective and psycho-motor development. Brouwer and Ludeke (1997) and Atay (1995) stated that sport is both physically and mentally healthy and extremely valuable for the disabled but the disabled individuals have greater need for sport (Atay, 1995; Brouwer et al., 1997). The disabled individuals doing sport has primary psychological needs to maintain their motivations (Ruddell et al., 2006). It is specified that sport is a significant tool for meeting pleasure, entertainment and achievement needs of the disabled individuals; sport teaches the disabled individuals how to deal with their disablement and to ease their disablement; it gives pleasure; it ensures communication and sharing; it increases life motivation; and it ensures gaining positive personal characteristics like cooperation (Özer, 2001). 156

Because of these characteristics, sport has been started to be used to bring the disabled individuals in the society (De Pauw et al., 2005). Turkish Federation of the Disabled (TÖSF) was first established in our country in 1990 within General Directorate of Youth and Sports and activities of the four disabled groups (physically, mentally, hearing and visually handicapped) were included it (Golden, 2003). Anger, which is one of the humanistic feelings, can be described in various ways. Anger, according to Biaggio (1989), is a strong feeling that leads to expressing uncomfortable stimulators regarding the cognitions when a person faces a real or imaginary restraint, threat or injustice (Olmuş, 2001). Kennedy (1992) shortly describes anger as An effective experience that is revealed as a result of the fact that an individual stimulates the one opposite to him or her because of a danger against him or her. Anger is described in Turkish Language Society Dictionary (1994) as Aggressive reaction, frustration, rage, and fury, wrath that is shown when faced with restraint, offence or threat (Kennedy, 1992; TDK, 2005). Kısaç (1997) describes anger as One of the basic feelings that is experienced when an individual s plans, demands and requirements are restraint and when he or she feels an injustice, inequity and a threat against his or her own personality (Kısaç, 1997). On the other hand, according to Golden (2003), anger is a message given when we are hurt, our rights are violated, our demands and requirements are restraint and when something happens to be untrue (Golden, 2003). Golden (2003) describes anger as a feeling experienced when we cannot take what we deserve or when something is not done in a way we expected (Golden, 2003). When we look at the common point in the above stated descriptions, it is seen that anger is a negative feeling that is revealed when an individual s plans, demands and requirements are restraint, when he or she perceives an injustice, inequity or threat against his or her personality and when his or her expectations do not come true. Starting from the fact that sport is considered to be a tool meeting the psychological needs of an individual, various researches have been done in our country and out of our country regarding how are the psychological needs and anger levels of the disabled who are doing sport. Considering that the psychologies of the disabled individuals will be different from the healthy individuals, the object of interest in this study is what kind of distinctions and similarities do the trait anger and anger expression styles have. From this point of view, the purpose of the study is to investigate the trait anger and anger expression styles of 150 voluntary male sight-disabled sportsmen who took part in Goalball, B1, B2-B3 Futsal, Athletics and Judo competitions that are included in 2011-2012 season activity program of Turkish Blind Sport Federation. Material and Method 150 voluntary male sight-disabled sportsmen who took part in Goalball, B1, B2-B3 Futsal, Athletics and Judo competitions that are included in 2011-2012 season activity program of Turkish Blind Sport Federation constitute the study group. The questions in the personal information form and Trait Anger Anger Expression Style Scale (TAASS) were used in the collection of data. This scale was developed by Spielberger in 1983 and its validity and reliability for our country was carried out by Özer (1994). The scale is constituted of 34 items and 4 subscales as of Anger in, Anger out, Anger Control and Trait Anger (Savaşır et al., 1997). The scale does not have a general total score and the items of 4 subscales constitute the total score of that subscale (Savaşır et al., 1997). SPSS statistics package program was used for the assessment of data and determination of their calculated values. The data were summarized by giving the average and standard deviations. Whether the data show normal distribution or not is tested by means of One-Sample Kolmogorov- Smirnov test and it is detected that the data show normal distribution. As the data show normal distribution, t test was used in independent groups to determine the differentiation between the independent variations and ANOVA test was used to determine the differentiation between the groups. The error performance in this study is taken as (0.05). Results When the values in Table 1 are analyzed, no statistically significant difference was determined during the comparison of scores regarding the trait anger, anger in, anger out and anger control cases according to the sport branches of sight-disabled sportsmen who participated in the study (p>0,05). 157

Table 1: According to level of anger scale scores of branches of sports statistical distribution of the values of variables Branches of sport N x Ss F p Goalball 47 26,55 5,95,77,51 Futsal 40 28,22 5,05 Trait anger Atletic 45 27,64 5,75 Judo 18 28,16 5,19 Total 150 27,52 5,56 Goalball 47 17,70 2,42 1,60,19 Futsal 40 18,92 2,66 Anger in cases Atletic 45 18,33 3,21 Judo 18 18,94 3,35 Total 150 18,36 2,87 Goalball 47 18,57 4,73 1,49,21 Futsal 40 20,72 4,64 Anger out cases Atletic 45 19,55 4,79 Judo 18 19,66 4,70 Total 150 19,57 4,75 Goalball 47 18,80 3,26,34,79 Futsal 40 18,67 3,81 Anger control cases Atletizm 45 18,42 3,16 Judo 18 19,33 2,27 Total 150 18,72 3,27 When the values in Table 2 are analyzed, not statistically significant difference was observed during the comparison of scores regarding the anger in, anger out and anger control cases according to the year of sport of the sight-disabled sportsmen who participated in the study (p>0,05). When the trait anger levels are considered, on the other hand, significant difference was observed between the ones who have been doing sport for 2 years and the ones who have been doing sport for 1 year (p<0,02). Table 2: According to level of anger scale scores of individuals' sport year statistical distribution of the values of variables Individuals sport year N x Ss F p 1 year* 17 23,52 6,30 3,01,02 2 year* 47 28,85 4,73 Trait anger 3 year 30 27,50 5,34 4 year 24 27,66 5,96 5 year 32 27,59 5,52 Total 150 27,52 5,56 1 year 17 17,41 2,95,91,45 2 years 47 18,72 2,85 Anger in cases 3 years 30 18,00 2,51 4 years 24 18,29 3,04 5 years 32 18,75 3,04 Total 150 18,36 2,87 1 year 17 16,70 4,84 2,30,06 2 years 47 20,70 4,16 Anger out cases 3 years 30 19,36 4,29 158

4 years 24 19,54 4,96 5 years 32 19,65 5,34 Total 150 19,57 4,75 1 year 17 20,00 3,51,94,43 2 years 47 18,51 2,94 Anger control cases 3 years 30 18,90 3,06 4 years 24 18,08 2,41 5 years 32 18,65 4,21 Total 150 18,72 3,27 When the values in Table 3 are analyzed, no significant difference was observed during the comparison of scores regarding trait anger, anger in, anger out and anger control cases according to the deviations of how the sight-disabled sportsmen who participated in the study describe themselves (p>0.05). When anger out levels are considered, on the other hand, significant difference was observed between the ones who express themselves as anger out and the ones who express themselves as anger in (p<0.00). Table 3: According to level of anger scale scores of how they identify themselves the values of variables How you identify yourself N x Ss t p Trait anger introvert 75 25,77 5,51-4,03,06 Outgoing 75 29,26 5,08 Anger in cases introvert 75 17,82 2,69-2,33,06 Outgoing 75 18,90 2,95 Anger out cases Introvert* 75 18,38 5,16-3,15,00 Outgoing* 75 20,76 3,98 Anger control cases introvert 75 19,40 2,96 2,59,50 Outgoing 75 18,04 3,43 When the values in Table 4 are analyzed, no significant difference was observed during the comparison of scores regarding anger control cases according to the deviations of behaviors of families of the sight-disabled sportsmen who participated in the study (p>0,05). When anger levels are considered, on the other hand, significant difference was observed between the democratic families and the protective families (p<0.00). And when anger in levels are considered, significant difference was observed between the ones who have protective families and the ones who have authoritative families (p<0.00). When anger out levels are considered, on the other hand, significant difference was observed between the ones who have authoritative and protective families and the ones who have insensible families (p<0.00). Table 4: According to level of anger scale scores the attitude of their families towards them the statistical distribution values of variables Attitude of their families towards N x Ss F p them self Democratic** 22 24,68 6,88 4,16,00 Protective* 35 28,77 7,78 Trait anger Authoritarian 66 26,96 3,83 27 29,55 3,08 Insensible* Total 150 27,52 5,56 Democratic 22 18,45 3,54 7,36,00 Anger in cases Protective* 35 19,97 3,03 Authoritarian* 66 17,34 2,56 Insensible 27 18,70 1,58 Total 150 18,36 2,87 Democratic 22 19,31 4,71 7,74,00 159

Protective* 35 20,77 4,53 Anger out cases Authoritarian** 66 17,86 4,61 Insensible* 27 22,40 3,68 Total 150 19,57 4,75 Democratic 22 18,36 5,58,52,66 Protective 35 18,62 3,58 Anger control cases Authoritarian 66 19,07 2,20 Insensible 27 18,25 2,56 Total 150 18,72 3,27 Discussion and Conclusion When scores regarding trait anger, anger in, anger out and anger control cases are considered, it is determined that no statistically significant difference was observed according to the sport branch deviations of the sight-disabled sportsmen who participated in our study (p>0.05). When different studies are investigated, Zengin (2010) while there is significant difference in the anger levels of sportsmen in different branches, Özbaydar (1983), it is emphasized that the sportsmen who do more individual sport are more introvert, closed and freethinker than the ones who do team sport. As narrated by Kızmaz (2004), James and Johnson (1983) stated that the sportsmen who do individual sport are more stressful and frustrated and show reactive characteristics. The fact that Robazza, Bertolli and Bortoli (2006) emphasize that the most important element triggering the anger levels of all the sportsmen, either in team sport or in individual sport, is the concept of competition can be interpreted as how complicated processes does the anger include and as it cannot be explained in one dimension. Starting from our study and different studies, it is thought that the trainers and managers should take precautions on developing ways for the sportsmen to deal with anger by forming a wholeness (Kızmaz, 2004; Özbaydar, 1983; Zengin, 2010). No statistically significant difference was observed during the comparison of scores regarding anger in, anger out and anger control cases according to the sport year deviations of the sight-disabled sportsmen who participated in our study (p>0.05). When trait anger levels are considered, on the other hand, significant difference was observed between the ones who do sport for 2 years and the ones who do sport for 1 year (p<0.02). As narrated by Yıldız (2008), Sala (1997) emphasized that one of the important factors affecting the expression of anger is age. The factors such as the increase in the experience of the individual along with the years of doing sport and his or her self-development determined the frequency of frustration and the anger expression style. It can be said that the fact that especially the group which has less year of sport stated their anger level is high and it decreases as the year of sport increases show parallelism with the finding of this study (Yıldız, 2008). No statistically significant difference was observed during the comparison of scores regarding trait anger, anger in and anger out cases according to the deviations of how the sight-disabled sportsmen who participated in our study identify themselves (p>0.05). When anger out levels are considered, on the other hand, significant difference was observed between the ones who identify themselves as outgoing and the ones who identify themselves as introvert (p<0.00). Okman (1999) investigated the relationship between the anger expression styles of teenagers and self-image. As a consequence, it is precipitated that teenagers with positive self-image has lower level of trait anger and they are able to control their anger. During the study, Yıldız (2008) found out that there is significant relationship between the extroversion and the extent of anger control and external dimension of anger (Okman, 1999; Yıldız, 2008). No statistically significant difference was observed during the comparison of scores regarding anger control cases according to the deviations of the attitude of families of the sight-disabled sportsmen (p>0.05). When trait anger levels are considered, on the other hand, significant difference was observed between the ones having democratic families and the ones having protective and authoritative families (p<0.00). And when anger in levels are considered, significant difference was observed between the ones having protective families and the ones having authoritative families (p<0,00). And when anger out levels are considered, significant difference was observed between the ones having authoritative and protective families and the ones having insensible families (p<0.00). When similar studies are investigated, on the other hand, Olmuş (2001) has analyzed the trait anger and anger expression styles of teenagers according to interfamilial psychological patterns and has put forward that they become distinct (Olmuş, 2001). It is precipitated according to the findings that the 160

teenagers who understand that they have a democratic families and that they are supported by their families are able to healthfully express their anger and control it suitably. When different studies and our study are analyzed, it is observed that the disabled sportsmen who have authoritative and insensible family environment more frequently have a feeling of anger, they are not able to express their feelings conveniently and they are in need of expressing this feeling. As a result of the study, it is revealed that trait anger and anger expression levels of the disabled sportsmen are higher than the anger control and anger in levels. Under the light of all these data, personal characteristics of the disabled sportsmen can be determined and their reaction as a result of a given behavior can be predicted. This situation is important for especially performed behaviors in terms of the harmony and success process in sport environment. We can help the harmony process of the disabled sportsmen who show some given personal characteristics. The individuals can be included in anger control programs in company with experts to help them realize their anger life, describe their anger experiences under which situations and conditions and develop strategies to deal with their angers. As a consequence of these studies, trainers, sport managers and sport teachers can help increase the success and harmony level of the teams and sportsmen by having deeper information about the sportsmen. References Atay M, 1995. The Importance of Sports Activities in Self Development of Disabled People. Statement Book of Antalya International Sports Symposium on Disabled People. General Directorate of Youth and Sports, Department of Sports Education Publications: 97-100, Ankara. Bıyık N, 2004. Examination of University Students Personal and Social Characteristics of Sense of Loneliness in terms of Tendency to Anger, Master s Thesis, Eskişehir: Anadolu University; Brouwer J, Ludeke W, 1997. Philosophically Sports in Disabled People. Statement Book of Antalya International Sports Symposium on Disabled People. Republic of Turkey, Prime Ministry, General Directorate of Youth and Sports, Department of Sports Education Edition No: 1. 11-17, Ankara. DePauw K.P, Gavron S.J, 2005. Disability Sports, Human Kinetics; p: 84. Golden B, 2003. How to Help Children and Teens Manage Their Anger, Oxford University Press, New York. Kennedy H.G, 1992. Anger and Irritability. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161, 145-153. Kısaç İ, 1997. Continuous Anger and Anger Expression Level of University Students with regard to some variables, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Hacettepe University, Institution of Social Sciences, Ankara. Kızmaz M, 2004. Comparison of Personality Traits of Sportsmen Practising Individual or Team Sports. Master s Thesis, Istanbul, Marmara University, Kuru E, 2004. Comparison of Psychological Requirements of Turkish and Kazakhstani Male Participant University Students. Bilig. 30: 203-233. Kuru E, Baştuğ G, 2006. Examination of Psychological Requirements of Male and Female Footballers in terms of Gender Variable. Spormetre Journal for Physical Education and Sports Sciences. 3: 117-126. Kuru E, Karahan B.G, 2008. Physiological requirements of wheelchair and running basketball players. Selçuk University Journal for Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Volume 10, Issue 2, 23 30, Konya. Okman S, 1999. Examination of anger explanandum in adolescence period within the context of self Image, Master s Thesis, Istanbul, Marmara University. Olmus G.Ö, 2001. Examination of continuous anger and anger expression way of adolescents with regard to intra-family physiological patterns. Master s Thesis, Istanbul, Marmara University. Özbaydar S, 1983. Limits of Human Behaviour and Sports Psychology, İstanbul, Altın Kitaplar Publishing House. Özer A.K, 1994. Continuous anger and anger expression way scales pre-study, Turkish Journal of Psychology, 9 (31): 26 35. Özer D, 2001. Physical Education and Sports For Disabled People, Nobel Publication-Distribution; 4-21, Ankara. Ramirez JM, Andreu JM, 2006. Aggression and some related psychological constructs (Anger, Hostility and Impulsivity). Some comments from a research project. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviewes. 30; 276-291. 161

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