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Will-to-Win, Self-Esteem, and Dispositional Flow State among adolescent athletes in India - A path analysis and comparisons by Gender and Level of Achievement


M.D. Dilsad Ahmed
Walter King Yan Ho
Rudolph Leon van Niekerk
Shaheen Begum

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationships between athletes’ will-to-win, their self-esteem, and dispositional flow state by presenting a structural model of the relationships. Further, gender and competitive level group differences among adolescent athletes in India were explored. A purposive sample of 318 adolescent athletes (male: n = 188; female: n = 130) with a mean age of 16.10 ± 1.01 years, who participanted in basketball, football and volleyball competitions, completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Questionnaire, Will-to-Win Questionnaire and the Dispositional Flow Scale-2. Significant differences were found between the two competitive levels and gender groups. Players participating on Inter-state level had significantly higher self-esteem, will-to-win and dispositional flow (such as challenge skill balance, clear goals and concentration on the task at hand) than participants at Inter-district level. Male athletes had significantly higher self-esteem (p=.077) and dispositional flow (such as action awareness merging; p=.004), concentration, loss of self-consciousness (p=.050) and transformation of time (p=.001) than female athletes. A significant positive relationship was found between self-esteem, will-to-win and the dispositional flow subscales. Lastly, the CFA (path analysis) showed excellent model fit between Will-to-Win → Self-Esteem → Dispositional Flow. Athletes participating on higher competitive levels reported superior mean scores in five factors such as self-esteem (31.14 ± 6.77), will-to-win (10.24 ± 2.32), challenge skill balance (17.34 ± 2.17), action awareness merging (15.25 ± 2.99) and clear goals (16.48 ± 2.50). Male athletes had higher mean scores on self-esteem and dispositional flow state than female athletes. However, will-to-win did not show any significant gender difference. Additionally, the linear structural model of the relationship between will-to-win mediating selfesteem with dispositional flow provided excellent model fit.


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print ISSN: 2411-6939