Definition of Gender Identity in Younger Age Groups of Women's Boxing

Abstract

The article considers the means of determining gender identification of girls engaged in boxing and their impact on the training and competitive process. Purpose: to determine gender identification of qualified girls boxers. Material & Methods: the study involved qualified (participants, prize-winners, champions of local tournaments and championships of Ukraine in their age group) girls boxers 12-15 years old, who are engaged in the city children's and youth sports school. A total of 10 girls were interviewed, including 7 athletes aged 15 and 3 athletes aged 12 years, sports experience at the time of the study ranged from 3 to 5 years. Research methods used: S. Bem's method "masculinity - femininity"; Freiburg Personal Questionnaire (FPI) Masculinity Scale; analysis and generalization of literary sources; analysis of excerpts from the protocols of competitions and video viewing of semifinal, final matches of two championships of Ukraine; method of mathematical statistics. Results: it was determined that most girls (n = 9) with index values ​​(IS) in the range from -0,348 (± 0.05) to 0,580 (± 0.05) belong to the androgynous type according to the S.Bem classification. Only one athlete (n = 1) with indicators (IS) -1,276 belongs to the masculine type according to the classification of S. Bem. Determination of masculinity signs using the FPI test showed the number of points scored from 4 (± 2) to 9 out of 14 possible. Conclusions: The study proved the dominance of androgynous and masculine types in various sports in general. The ratio of gender types between individuals engaged in martial arts and boxing is revealed. The data on the dominance of the androgenic type of personality in the younger age groups of women's boxing have been supplemented. For more productive training of gender types of physical and special boxing exercises and forecasting of competitive activity, it is necessary to study individual psychological qualities of a girl-boxer. It is advisable in the subsequent stages of long-term training to conduct repeated tests of girls boxers of this research group in order to determine the progress of masculinization by age and sports experience and sports qualifications.