Gender Difference in Perceived Level of Social Support among Corporate Cricket Players of Pakistan

Abstract: Social support is the key contributor in high performance of athletes for both males and females. Social support has wide array of sources such as perceived and actual support. The study aims to investigate the gender differences in perceived level of social support. Objective: To determine the gender differences in perceived level if social support among corporate cricket players of Pakistan. Methods: Stratified sampling method was used to conduct the survey.176 corporate players were selected including male (n1=123) and female (n2=53). Enriched social support instrument (ESSI) (Vagalio, 2005) was used to collect the data from the respondents. SPSS version 20.0 was used to conduct the independent sample t test for gender analysis. Results: Results revealed statistical significant difference in structural support of males (n=123, m=6.82, Sd =1.228) and females (n=53, m=6.11, Sd=1.25), p=0.001. On the other hand no statistical significant difference found in instrumental support of males (n=123, m=6.58, Sd=1.358) and females (n=53, m=6.26, Sd=1.546), p=0.186 and emotional support of males (n=123, m=6.63, Sd=1.351) and females (n=53, m=6.23, Sd=1.368), p=0.069 Conclusions: Study concluded that male and female corporate players have similarities in instrumental and emotional support but in structural support they have differences Keywords: Structural support, Instrumental support, Emotional support, Corporate Cricket Players