The aim of the research is to determine the effect of empathic tendency level of individuals studying in sports high school on cognitive flexibility. The sample of study consists of a total of 199 participants, 94 of whom are female and 105 are male, who are studying in a sports high school located in the borders of Ankara in the 2018-2019 fall semester. Empathic Tendency Scale developed by Lawrence, Shaw, Baker, Baron-Cohen and David (2004) and adapted by Çolakoğlu (2015) and the Cognitive Flexibility Scale developed by Martin and Rubin (1995) and adapted into our language by Çelikkaleli (2014) as well as the personal information form was used as a data collection tool. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics together with the Independent-Samples T Test, Pearson Correlation and a structural equation modeling aimed at testing the constructed theoretical model were used. As a result of the analyzes, it can be stated that the empathic tendencies of the participants are slightly above the average (x¯=3.61). However, considering the mean score (x¯=4.52) taken from the Cognitive Flexibility Scale, it can be stated that the cognitive flexibility level of the participants is at a good level above average. When the level of empathic tendency is analyzed by considering the gender variable, it was determined that there is a significant difference in favor of female participants, t (197) = - 4.16, p <.05. When the results of the structural equation model between the empathic tendencies of the participants (latent variable) and their cognitive flexibility (observed variable) were analyzed, no significant relationship was found between the latent and observed variables (ß1=1.15, ß2=-.94, ß3=-.07; p>.05). The model's Squared Multiple Correlations (R2) value shows that 04% of the cognitive flexibility was explained.

Sports high school, empathic tendency, cognitive flexibility, structural equation model.