ROLE OF SPORTS ACTIVITIES IN THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS OF STREET CHILDREN (A PILOT STUDY)

This article deals with the socio- cultural and socio- economical features of the street children and the effect of sport activities upon their socialization. The study was carried out upon 133 children who live or work in the streets of Ankara with or without home fitting perfectly well in the description of “street children” who had been involved in sports at various degrees before... the data were collected by the use of the 69 question socialization scale developed by Şahan (2007). The data obtained were evaluated by the use of SPSS statistical software. The data were first subjected to frequency analysis and listed in tabular manner. The percentage of the variables in the sample was determined and the features of the sample were first subjected to a general evaluation process. Then the analysis process to be applied to hypotheses was started and the raw data were evaluated by the use of Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis Nonparametric Test. It was concluded that here was not a statistically significant difference between the socialization levels of the children interested and not interested in sports according to gender and the income levels of the families. On the other hand, there was significant difference in the socialization levels of the chidden if the interest in sports and family income parameters are considered together.