Assessment of Personality Traits Influencing the Performance of Men in Team Sports in Terms of the Big Five

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to define the perspective from which a coach should analyze and evaluate personality traits that influence sports performance in team sports. The subjects of the research are Polish players (N = 300) in senior age (20–29 years) from 10 team sports (each n = 30). A sample of champions (n = 13) was selected from the study population, and the Big Five model was applied to examine their personality with the use of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed with the IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 25. The study revealed statistically significant differences between team sports in four personality traits: neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Champions of team sports were characterized by a lower level of neuroticism, a higher level of extraversion, and openness to experiences in relation to other sportsmen. It was also confirmed that the personality traits distribution levels depend on the sport discipline. Therefore, an important role must be assigned to those mental training techniques that favor emotional balance, team communication, and tactical thinking skills and are manifested in triggering start-up readiness.

Personality Determinants of Success in Men’s Sports in the Light of the Big Five

“…The analyses showed statistically significant differences in all personality dimensions in the Big Five five-factor approach; namely: sports champions were characterized by a lower level of neuroticism and a higher level of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness than other athletes. This personality profile of sports champions confirmed earlier research reports [ 16 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 26 ], and at the same time negated the research of Mirzaei and colleagues [ 11 ], which suggested that only high conscientiousness correlated with sports results.…”

“…However, one must bear in mind that the personality determinants of success in sport in various disciplines are distinct. This is due to the specificity of sports competition in martial arts [ 21 ], individual [ 22 ], and team [ 23 ] sports, as well as different psychological requirements they place on competitors [ 1 , 33 ].…”

“…The research problem was an attempt at defining personality profile of sports champions and personality determinants of success in sport in the light of the Big Five factor model. In connection with the above, personality profiles of players from various sports disciplines in the areas of combat sports [ 21 ], individual sports [ 22 ], and team sports [ 23 ] were compared with the personality profile of champions [ 16 ]—players who are very successful in sports rivalry. Subsequently, attempts were made to determine which personality traits significantly determine belonging to the group of champions—and thus determine success in sport.…”

Sports Level and the Personality of American Football Players in Poland

“…On the one hand, there are no differences in the personality profiles of athletes in relation to the sport level represented [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. On the other hand, such differences are present in different dimensions of their personality, depending on the trained sports discipline [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. However, it is important that sport activity influences the personality of people who train.…”

Personality Traits and Emotion Regulation Styles of Elite Beach Volleyball Dyads: Examination of Intra-Team Differences, Performance and Satisfaction Levels

“…Furthermore, neuroticism was negatively related to performance. As previous research has indicated (e.g., Halfhill et al, 2005;Woodman et al, 2010;Allen et al, 2013;Piepiora, 2021), personality and other psychological variables like emotion regulation, perfectionism, or coping mechanisms, indeed contribute to the performance of an athlete and future research should go beyond the Big Five personality traits to include other psychological variables (Roberts and Woodman, 2017).…”