DETERMINING THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS SPORTS AMONG IRAQI YOUTH BY MEDIATING ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT AND INFLUENCED BY SPORTS ANXIETY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MOBILIZERS

Abstract

Youth is constantly passionate about games and sports and eager to win in highly competitive games; hence, there is a need to concentrate on creating strategies for the sports sector to improve its performance and success rate. During tournaments, team members face various physical and mental obstacles that might hamper players' performance and produce undesirable outcomes. This study examined the effect of essential components, such as sports anxiety and psychological mobilizers, on the sports attitude of young Iraqi athletes. The study also examined the function of psychological empowerment as a mediator between exogenous and endogenous dimensions. The simple random sampling technique was used to collect data, which was then analyzed using Smart-PLs. According to the study's findings, there is no significant relationship between psychological empowerment and attitude toward sports, refuting hypothesis H1. However, the hypothesized relationship between sports anxiety and psychological empowerment and attitude towards sports was found to be statistically significant, confirming hypotheses H2 and H3. The study also revealed a statistically significant association between psychological mobilizers, psychological empowerment, and attitude toward sports, proving the validity of hypotheses H4 and H5. The current study also examined the role of psychological empowerment as a mediator between sports anxiety, psychological mobilizers, and attitude toward sports. According to the study's findings, the role of psychological empowerment as a mediator between independent and dependent variables is statistically significant.