Examination of the relationship between athlete identity, emotional intelligence, psychological stress and psychological resilience of university students

In this study, the relationships between the emotional intelligence, psychological distress and psychological resilience variables of university students with an athlete identity were examined. University life is a process in which individuals become aware of their own freedom, draw their own boundaries, dream new dreams and pursue new hopes. Individuals will have the opportunity to know themselves better in this process. In this study, the relationships between university students’ identity, emotional intelligence, psychological distress and psychological resilience were examined. In addition to the role of athlete identity, emotional intelligence and psychological resilience variables in predicting psychological distress, the role of athlete identity and emotional intelligence in explaining psychological resilience was examined. In addition, differences according to demographic variables were investigated. The sample of the research consisted of 428 licensed athlete students studying at Atatürk University, Ege University, Gazi University, Gaziantep University, Istanbul University, Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa, Mersin University, and Trabzon University. The Athlete Identity Scale, the Revised Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Brief Psychological Resilience Scale and the Personal Information Form prepared by the researchers were administered to the participants. The SPSS v22.00.0 statistical package was used for data analysis, and t tests for independent groups, multiple linear regression analysis, the Pearson product moment coefficient and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used during the analysis phase. Research has shown that university students’ psychological resilience and athlete identities are significant predictors of their psychological distress levels, while emotional intelligence does not have any effect in this direction. In addition, according to the analysis results of the second model of the study, emotional intelligence and athlete identity are significant predictors of university students’ psychological resilience in the expected direction. The results of the study are presented by comparing them with the literature.