COMPARISON OF TRAIT ANXIETY LEVELS OF PARENTS

The objective of this study is to analyze the trait anxiety levels of parents. Trait anxiety levels of families who had mentally disabled children were compared with trait anxiety levels of families who had children with normal development participating/not participating in physical activity and exercise. A total of 147 volunteer parents, 34 mothers and 39 fathers who had children without disability participating in physical activity and exercise, 13 mothers and 25 fathers who had children without disability not participating in physical activity and exercise and 31 mothers and 5 fathers who had mentally disabled children not participating in physical activity and exercise in the cities of Samsun and Sakarya participated in the study. A demographic information form and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory with 20 items developed by Spielberger were applied to the participants. The data obtained were analyzed with SPSS 21.0 package program. No significant difference was found between the anxiety levels of parents with mentally disabled children and parents who had children without disability not participating in physical activity and exercise. However, the anxiety levels of parents who had children without disability not participating in physical activity and exercise were found to be significantly lower than those of the other two groups (p=0,01). It was concluded that physical activity and exercise decreases children's' anxiety and thus indirectly affects parents' anxiety and decreases the level of anxiety. In addition, we believe that parents accompanying their children to physical activity and exercise will have a positive influence on anxiety levels.