SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS OF SLOVENIAN OLYMPIANS (BEIJING 2008) - A GENDER COMPARISON PSIHOLOŠKE ZNAČILNOSTI SLOVENSKIH OLIMPIJCEV (PEKING 2008) - PRIMERJAVA MED SPOLOMA

Our main aim in conducting this study was to investigate the psychological traits of Slovenian athletes who attended the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (OG) and to ascertain whether there were any gender differences regarding those traits. The sample comprised 62 Slovenian athletes who participated in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The following standardised survey questionnaires were used: the Freiburg Personality Questionnaire – FPI 76 (Bele – Potocnik, Hrusevar, & Tusak, 1984), the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory – CSAI-2 (Martens, Vealey, & Burton, 1990), the Coping Responses Inventory – CRI-Adult (Moos, 1993), the Dispositional Resilience Scale – DRS II (Sinclair & Oliver, 2003), the Sport Orientation Questionnaire – SOQ (Gill & Deeter, 1988), the Self-Motivation Inventory – SMI (Dishman, Ickes, & Morgan, 1980) and a questionnaire measuring satisfaction, success attributions, expected self-efficacy and expectations of success (Tusak, 1997). The differences between the male and female athletes regarding the 38 variables were only statistically significant with regard to self-confidence, masculinity and cognitive anxiety. Differences nearing the 5% significance level were also found on the scales of impulsivity and somatic anxiety. The findings of this study are expected to considerably contribute to the understanding of the psychological traits of Olympians; they should help coaches and sport psychologists build more (gender-) specific psychological preparation plans for future Olympic Games.