Abstract

The aim of this work is to examine the life satisfaction and problem solving skills of high school students according to their sports status. Life satisfaction and problem-solving inventories were applied to 1100 voluntary students from 37 high schools selected from the 128 high school population in Turkey’s Kocaeli province by cluster sampling method. Since the data showed normal distribution when analyzed in SPSS 21 package program, the parametric test of Independent Sample T test was used to compare binary groups and One Way Anova test was used to compare multiple groups. Significance level was accepted as 0.05. When the data were analyzed, it was seen that being insistent and unwilling to take responsibility approaches in problem-solving and life satisfaction increased in males and in those who do sports; pessimistic and insistent approaches to problems increased as age and grade level increased and constructive approach to problems and life satisfaction increased as parental education level increased.  It is seen that the interpersonal problem-solving skills and life satisfaction perceptions of students increase significantly with regular participation in sports. In this respect, it is suggested that sports opportunities in schools should be increased and participation should be encouraged.

Key words: Interpersonal problem-solving skill, life satisfaction, sports, high school students.