Attitudes Toward Physical Activity of Champion Women Basketball Players.

This study was undertaken to determine which attitudes were central to the motivation of women involved in championship basketball competition. Seventy-five women members of teams represented in national basketball championships served as subjects for this experiment. In addition, a control group of 212 women was randomly selected from physical education classes required of all first-year students at Kansas State University. All subjects were administered the Kenyon Attitude Toward Physical Activity Scale. This scale includes the following six subdomains: (a) social experience, (b) health and fitness, (c) pursuit of vertigo, (d) aesthetic experience, (e) catharsis, and (f) ascetic experience. Information was also obtained on the player's position on the team, her classification as starting or reserve, and her team's rating. The strongest motive for participation expressed by the athletes was the ascetic. The aesthetic experience was least dominant. Athletes differed from nonathletes on the ascetic, aesthetic, and catharsis subscales. The most striking difference was in ascetic attitudes, where athletes had a much higher score. Athletes also scored higher on the catharsis scale. The only scale on which nonathletes scored higher than athletes was the aesthetic scale. There were no significant differences in attitude when position, classification, and rating were considered. (PB)