Physical self-perception of elite athletes and nonathletes:: A turkish sample

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical self-perception and sports participation by comparing physical self-perception in a sample of elite Turkish athletes and a nonathletic control group. A total of 329 elite athletes from variety of sports at the national level (n(men)=207; M-age=19.1 yr., SD=3.3 and n(women)=122; M-age=18.5 yr., SD=3.6) and 469 nonathletic university students (n(men)=275; M-age=20.8, SD=1.6 and n(women)=194; M-age=20.7 yr., SD=1.7) voluntarily participated and answered the Physical Self-perception Profile. Scores for the elite athletes were significantly different from those of nonathletes on self-perception in all psychomotor subdomains. Further, physical self-perception of athletes and nonathletes also differed with regard to their sex.