Abstract

It has been suggested that there are personality trait differences between athletes and non-athletes. I hypothesized that athletes would possess different personality traits than non-athletes. I used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Briggs & Briggs-Myers, 2015) as my tool for assessing the difference in personality traits between athletes and non-athletes. An athlete is someone who engages in a sport for an element such as a title or rank. My sample was composed of a total of 123 participants; there were 41 athletes and 82 non-athletes. The participants were in the age range of 18 to 74; there were 29 men and 90 women. I conducted my online study by posting my survey on Facebook as well as on Sona Systems, which allowed members from the Lindenwood Participant Pool to complete my study. The participants were first asked to complete five demographic questions. Then, the subjects were asked to complete the 70 questions of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Briggs & Briggs-Myers, 2015) as my tool to determine their personality traits in regards to extroversion versus introversion, sensing versus intuition, thinking versus feeling, and judging versus perceiving. I analyzed the difference in personality traits between athletes and non-athletes, male athletes and non-athletes, female athletes and non-athletes, and athletes who participate in team and individual sports. The only significant difference that I found was between athletes and non-athletes in regards to judging versus perceiving, χ2(1) = 6.845, p = 0.009. More athletes were found to have the perceiving personality trait in comparison to non-athletes.

Recommended Citation

Schoonover, Sam (2016) "Different Personality Traits Between Athletes and Non-athletes," Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal: Vol. 1: Iss. 18, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/psych_journals/vol1/iss18/5