Physical self-concept in adolescents from Seville in relation with gender and the evolution of sport career

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the physical capacities and the physical attractiveness of Seville adolescent athletes and whether these perceptions vary by gender and sport career development. 90 adolescents from 12 to 18 years (50 girls and 40 boys) completed a Spanish adaptation of the Physical Self Description Questionnaire (Marsh, Richards, Johnson, Roche y Tremaye, 1994; Tomás, 1998) and a scale to collect physical attractiveness perceived (Alfermann, Saborowski y Würth, 1997). The results show that males have a more positive physical self-concept than females. There were no relationships of the variables with the level of sports performance. The follow-up survey, one year later, noted an increase in some subdomains of self-concept in terms of positive developments in the sport career. In this study the physical changes associated with maturation in adolescence seem to have fewer influences on the perception of the body as it has been reported in other studies

Keywords

• physical self-concept
• athletes
• sport career
• adolescence2