Ovidius University Annals, Series Physical Education and Sport / SCIENCE, MOVEMENT AND HEALTH Vol. XII, ISSUE 2, 2012, Romania The journal is indexed in: Ebsco, SPORTDiscus, INDEX COPERNICUS JOURNAL MASTER LIST, DOAJ DIRECTORY OF OPEN ACCES JOURNALS, Caby, Gale Cengace Learning 151 EVALUATION OF SOCIAL SKILL LEVELS OF THE HEARING-IMPAIRED FOOTBALL PLAYERS ILHAN EKREM LEVENT 1 , HUSEYIN KIRIMOGLU 2 , AYSEGUL SUKRAN OZ 3 Abstract Purpose: The aim of the present research was to evaluate social skill levels of the hearing-impaired football players in terms of various variables. Methods: The football players (n: 142) of 9 football clubs (1 st league: 4 teams, 2 nd league: 5 teams) who were selected with random sampling method were included in the research. The ages of the players ranged from 18 to 33. The social skill levels of the research group were assessed in terms of “age, economic status and league category”. As the data collection tools, Personal Information form and Social Skills Inventory developed by Riggio (1986) the Turkish adaptation of which was performed by G. Yüksel (1997) were used. For the statistical comparisons; “One -Way Anova” and “Independent-Samples T Test” test were used during the analysis the significance level was 0.05. Results: As a result, it was found out that social skills of the football players with hearing-impairment were at a moderate level (229.82±26.34). Besides, it was noted that as age and income status increased, so did social skill levels. As for the league category, there was a significant difference in “emotional expressivity and social expressivity” subscales on behalf of the football players in the 1 st league (P<0.05). Conclusions: Every sport activity is primarily a social experience for the disabled people. Additionally, it affects every individual who is in its natural ambience in different levels and supports all kinds of the developments. Keywords: Hearing-impaired,socialskill,football Introduction It is known that even individuals who have no disability or health problem experience numerous problems during the process of socialization and development and are affected by these problems negatively (F. Akkok, 1991; H. Yavuzer, 2002). The most important characteristic of human beings is to live together with others and to make social interactions. Skills used during social interaction enable people to communicate each other. People must collaborate with other people in order to continue their lives. As the result of these relations, socio cultural integration takes place among them (R.Gelles and A. Levine,1991). Social development is the whole process of relations established with other people from birth to adulthood and social characteristics such as interest in others, emotions, attitudes and behaviors about others (C. Binbasıoglu, 1995). Socialization, considered as a way to organize social life, is defined as an integration and adaptation process as the result of mutual interaction of the individuals, too (F. Aksoy, 2000; S. Donmezer, 1990; H. Yavuzer, 2000). In other words, socialization is the process through which one develops a behavior which is suitable for valid rules and value judgments in the society (C. Binbasıoğlu, 1995).Socialization is not only associated with childhood period but also covers a period that continues duringthe individual’s life (H. Yavuzer, 2000). With socialization, individual learns how to behave in different settings, time and situations by observing himself and other people. For T. Sukerman (2000), individual should have social skills in order to continue his life in the society. These skills help individual become socially acceptable and enable him establish satisfactory interactions as a person (D.R. Knapczyk and P. Rhodes, 1996;L. Korinek and P.A. Popp, 1997). K.L.Elksinin and N. Elksinin (2001) deals with social skills in three basic dimensions. These are interpersonal behaviors, peer acceptance and communication skills. 1. Interpersonal Behaviors:covers such social relations as making friendship, presenting oneself, participation, asking for help-request, paying compliments, apologizing. 2. Peer Acceptance:covers asking for and giving information, participation in an activity, understanding other people’s emotions. 3. Communication Skills: covers such skills as being a good listener, having a nice chat / conversation, continuing the chat / conversation and feedback. Inability to express feelings and thoughts in a comfortable way; inability to make friendship; unsociability in relations with opposite sex; restrictions of social communication and interaction experienced in such settings as school, work place, family, -all of which are regarded as communication problems today- have made social scientists and psychologists deal with social skills over the past years (B. Tegin, 1990). The hearing-impaired people have disadvantages in point of development of social skills 1 School of Physical Education and Sports, Gazi University, TURKEY 2 School of Physical Education and Sports, Mustafa Kemal University, TURKEY 3 Department of Special Education, Mustafa Kemal University TURKEY E-mail: leventilhan@gazi.edu.tr Received 11.03.2012 / Accepted 02.05.2012