Relations between Big Five personality traits model and achievement motive in athletes

Abstract

The achievement motive is a relevant factor for sports success. Many athletes do not achieve success proportional to their potential possibilities precisely because they do not have sufficiently high achievement motive. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the Big Five personality traits model and achievement motive in athletes. The survey encompassed 301 athletes from the Republic of Srpska. We applied the Big Five Inventory and Achievement Motive Scale. A series of hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the predictive contribution of personality traits to achievement motive and its components, after removing the impact of demographic variables on achievement motive. The obtained results indicate a significant predictive power of personality traits for achievement motive. The most powerful predictor of the total score of achievement motive was conscientiousness. By observing the components of the achievement motive, conscientiousness proved to be a significant positive predictor of all components of achievement motive. Other personality traits of the Big Five model have proved to be significant predictors of one or more components of achievement motive. The obtained results are important for researchers, in order to better understand achievement motive in sport, but also for sports coaches and selectors deciding on the athletes for competitions.

Personality determinants of goal orientation in elite long-distance and mountain runners

“…This result is explained by the relationship that occurs between emotional equilibrium and resilience to criticism and the desire to compete and compare oneself to others, which, in a situation of failure, can lead to lower self-esteem [8]. Furthermore, neuroticism was found to be inversely related to the overall level of goal motivation, which is moderately consistent with research hypothesis number 2 (moderately because the same relationship was not indicated in the group of female respondents), but fully confirms the results described by Mirković and Lovric [14]. The result obtained can be justified by the fact that neurotic people are characterised by a tendency to negative emotions, tension, stress and worry, which can have a negative impact on, among other things, a decrease in emotional resilience during the realisation of long-term goals, including those related to frequent sporting struggles.…”

“…In addition to conscientiousness, openness to experience and extraversion were also distinguished. In the same study, neuroticism, on the other hand, was shown to be negatively related to achievement motivation and was linked to anxiety in the context of sport and related competition [14].…”

“…The relationship between the level of motivation and the intensity of personality trait dimensions is often linked to sporting achievements [13,14]. For example, in a study conducted on a group of athletes (the largest group here were representatives of football and basketball), it was determined that the most important trait that is associated with a high level of motivation (and thus performance results) is conscientiousness, understood as discipline and the ability to self-control.…”