Investigation of Personality Traits of College Female Athletes and Nonathletes

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine and compare the personality traits of four groups of intercollegiate female athletic competitors and one group of noncompetitive students. Undergraduate coeds (N = 55) from the University of California, Santa Barbara were used as subjects in this investigation. Of these subjects, 41 were members of intercollegiate athletic teams and were divided into four sports groups representing basketball (N = 13), gymnastics (N = 6), tennis (N = 9), and swimming (N = 13). The fifth group did not participate in a sport and was designated as the control group (N = 14). The ages of the subjects ranged from 18 to 24 yr. Both forms A and B of the Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, as well as a personal information questionnaire, were administered to all subjects. A multivariate step-wise discriminative analysis was used to examine the 16 personality factors for statistical differences between the 5 groups. A post hoc F matrix was calculated on those variables shown to be statistically significant. Sten scores were also observed for profile analysis. The results indicated that the 5 groups were similar on 12 personality factors and significantly different on 4 personality factors. Significant differences were found to exist between groups on the 4 factors of intelligence, radicalism, self-sufficiency, and control.