An assessment on puritan and hedonist work ethics of elite student athletes

Abstract

The study aims to determine and evaluate elite student athletes' attitudes toward puritan and hedonist work ethics. The study group consisted of 729 athletes at university and high school levels (female n = 276, male n = 453). "From Puritanism to Hedonism: New Ethics of Working Questionnaire (PH-NEWQ)” was used as the study's data collection tool. According to the study findings, elite student athletes generally adopted puritan work ethics rather than hedonistic tendencies. In this sense, national athletes and team athletes had puritan work ethics. However, female athletes and individual athletes had a hedonistic mindset. Thus, it is recommended to plan the educational lives of elite athletes by considering the puritan values in elite sports.