Canan Koca

Constraints to leisure-time physical activity and negotiation strategies in Turkish women.

Abstract With the changing roles of women in Turkey, opportunities for leisure-time physical activity experiences appear to be increasing. Focus groups and individual interviews with active Turkish women were analyzed as part of a larger project aimed to examine cultural and social factors that influence Turkish womens participation in LTPA. These women experienced several constraints such as family responsibilities, ethic of care, time, social approval and economics. The study also revealed nuances of these constraints reflecting the tension between the traditional and contemporary Turkish society and, in particular, related to perceptions surrounding cultural and religious ideologies. Socioeconomic status coupled with stricter adherence to Islam seemed to underline the differences between these women and Western women studied in previous research.

Precompetitive Anxiety and Affective State of Climbers in Indoor Climbing Competition

The purpose of this study was to measure the precompetitive anxiety and affective states of climbers, particularly with regard to sex and types of competition. 37 men (M = 25.9, SD = 3.8 yr.) and 10 women (M = 25.9, SD = 4.2 yr.), climbers who enrolled in Indoor Sport Climbing Competition, voluntarily participated in two different types of competition—speed and difficulty indoor climbing. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2 and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule were administered to all climbers just before the competition. The Sport Competition Anxiety Test was also administered to control competitive trait anxiety. Multivariate analysis of covariance yielded a significant interaction of sex and type of competition for affective state (Hotelling T2 = 0.21; F2,33 = 3.43, p < .05). Follow-up univariate analysis indicated that the mean Negative Affect score of women climbers before the difficulty competition was higher than mean Negative Affect scores of men before both speed and difficulty competitions and also the mean for women climbers before the speed competition (F1,34 = 6.15, p <.05). The results partially supported the hypothesis of differences in negative affect by sex and types of competition.