1. NADER WALHA - LARIDIAME Laboratory- University of Sfax- Tunisia.
2. ALI ELLOUMI - LARIDIAME Laboratory- University of Sfax- Tunisia.
Objective – The objective of our study was to quantify the importance of the effect of age, gender, school level and region on psychological performance (Determination, self-confidence, positive awareness and visualization) in a population of young footballers enrolled in Tunisia aged 13 to 18 years. Methods - Psychological Performance Inventory - Alternative Arabic version (PPI-AA), questionnaire validated in a previous study, (Golby et al., 2007; Walha & Elloumi, 2025) composed of 14 items, it measures four dimensions of psychological performance: determination, self-confidence, positive awareness and visualization. The questionnaire uses a 5-level Likert scale, facilitating the differential analysis of scores according to individual profiles, was evaluated in 255 sports students between December 2024 and March 2025. The scores of the PPI-AA, used, adopts a more advanced modeling approach, by mobilizing a system of simultaneous equations estimated by the TMCO model (Triple Least Ordinary Square). Comparison tests (Student's t) to evaluate the differences in scores according to the explanatory variables. Results - The main results of this study show i) for a sporting activity such as football a curvilinear decline in psychological performance as a function of age ii) a significant difference between the sexes with a decline in psychological performance earlier in girls and no significant differences for the other variables. Conclusion – Age, gender, school level and region of belonging appear to be associated with psychological performance in the Tunisian context. Psychological performance is a process whose dimensions are correlated and not an event in footballers. Age, gender, school level and region of belonging appear to be associated with psychological performance in the Tunisian context.
Psychological Performance, Age, Sex, School Level, Region, Young Footballers, Tunisia.