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

Abstract

The aim of the study is to describe personality profiles and determinants of success in sports in relation to the Big Five Personality Model. In order to achieve this aim, personality profiles of players from various sports disciplines was set against the personality profile of champions—players who are considerably successful in sports competitions. Subsequently, an attempt was made to determine which personality traits significantly determine belonging to the group of champions—and therefore determine success in sport. The participants were men aged between 20 and 29 from the Polish population of sportsmen. A total of 1260 athletes were tested, out of whom 118 were qualified to the champions sample—those athletes had significant sports achievements. The research used the NEO-FFI Personality Questionnaire. Basic descriptive statistics, a series of Student’s t-tests for independent samples using the bootstrapping method, as well as a logistic regression model were performed. In relation to other athletes, champions were characterized by a lower level of neuroticism and a higher level of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. An important personality determinant was neuroticism: the lower the level of neuroticism, the greater the probability of an athlete being classified as a champion. There are differences between champions and other athletes in all personality dimensions in terms of the Big Five. Based on the result of the research, it can be stated that personality differences should be seen as a consequence of athletes’ success, rather than as a reason for athletes’ success, based on their age between 20 and 29.

Sports Level and the Personality of American Football Players in Poland

“…However, generally, athletes are distinguished from non-training people by high extraversion, which characterizes their social interactions, their dimensions, quality, their level of energy and activity [ 11 , 17 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], and their conscientiousness—a dimension that distinguishes the level of organization, persistence, and motivation of an individual in pursuing a goal [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Additionally, champions are additionally distinguished by low neuroticism, which reflects emotional adjustment versus emotional imbalance [ 10 , 13 , 18 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]. Additionally, the dimensions of openness to the experiences (describes the human tendency to seek and try new things, not being afraid of adventures, looking for new unconventional solutions) and agreeableness (the dimension characterized by positive attitudes towards others versus negative attitudes—being ready to sacrifice oneself for another person versus aversion and putting one’s own interests over others) of athletes are similar to those of non-training people [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ].…”

“…These factors show how important sport psychology and related science is for American football [ 8 ]. In this respect, research on the athletes’ personality is important, as it is determined by the athletes’ environment [ 9 , 10 ]; hence the supposition that personality may depend on the sports level of players. Research in this area is scarce and inconsistent.…”

“…In the context of athletic performance, personality traits relate to long-term athletic success, interpersonal relationships, and the mental states of athletes before, during, and after competition. In the context of health-related exercises, personality traits refer to the use of leisure time, strength and mobility in old age, as well as unhealthy and addictive physical behaviors [ 6 , 8 , 10 , 14 , 16 ]. So far, no studies have been conducted to verify the relationship between personality and sports experience among American football players in Poland.…”

Personality and Sport Experience of 20–29-Year-Old Polish Male Professional Athletes

“…That is why it is worth examining how sport (training and competition) shapes the personality of Polish male athletes. Such relationships have not yet been verified in the aforementioned population ( Piepiora and Witkowski, 2020a , b ; Piepiora, 2021a , b ; Piepiora and Piepiora, 2021 ). Accordingly, we have verified whether the obtained results in the Polish sports environment may confirm that sport is an example of a model personality moderator (according to the Big Five model: low neuroticism, high extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and considered the use of sports activity as an important social element ( Papacharisis et al, 2005 ).…”

Sports Climbing and Personality – A Cross-Sectional Study

“…One widely used is the comparison of high-level sportsmen versus low-level sportsmen (11). Current research suggests that high performance athletes express a lower level of neuroticism (12). A recent crucial nding is that long-term success in sports, as well as short-term behavior can be predicted by personality traits (13).…”