Self-Esteem, Individual versus Team Sports

Abstract

On the basis of the integrative concept of self-esteem discussed in sport-related literature, various studies refer to its importance in the context of sports activities. Self-esteem is often understood as a personality trait because it tends to be durable and stable. No accurate description is available regarding the types of sports in which subjects participated. The main purpose of the research was to identify and compare the levels of self-esteem and self-confidence of athletes practicing individual and team sports. The self-esteem and self-confidence levels were measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg 1979) and the Self-Confidence Test (Romek, 2000). All participants were males. Subjects were divided into two categories: 40 for individual sports and 40 for team sports. There were two evaluation periods: P1, the beginning of the preparation period, and P2, the beginning of the competition period. There were statistically significant differences for P1 (p < 0.002) and P2 (p < 0.003). The differences between the average values of the two periods were 5.8 points and 3.8 points, both favorable to the group of athletes who practiced individual sports. There were significant differences between the individual and team athletes in self-esteem level. Individual athletes presented a higher level of self-esteem.

Dietary assessment of 101 para‐athletes from team and individual sports

“…Dietary guidelines specifically developed to optimise the performance of athletes without disabilities are widely available in the literature (Jäger et al, 2017; Thomas et al, 2016a, 2016b). However, there are no consensus nutrition guidelines for para‐athletes and few studies have investigated the usual intake of athletes with a disability, and even fewer have used robust dietary intake assessment methods (Figel et al, 2018; Krempien & Barr, 2012; Šagát et al, 2021).…”

“…We also compared dietary intake data between team and individual sport para‐athletes to assess whether team and individual sports para‐athletes differ in their eating behaviour. Para‐athletes in individual sports may be more disciplined and less influenced by others compared to para‐athletes in group sports (Šagát et al, 2021).…”