The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits and athletes performance in long distance runners in Ethiopia. Cross-sectional research design was employed. The data was collected using questionnaires and through field study procedure. The targeted populations of the study were 138 of successful and unsuccessful athletes in long distance runners 2019/2020. Of the Non-probability sampling type purposive sampling techniques was employed. The sample size of the study was 34 successful and 39 unsuccessful athletes (a total of 73). Personality was associated by using five factorial models (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, Extraversion and Neuroticism) provide a framework for describing personality traits and athletes performance. To analyze the data of successful and unsuccessful athletes of long distance runners mean frequency, percentile and p-value were used. The result showed that Agreeableness' (70.58%) and Conscientiousness (63.23%) were significantly strong positive relationship associated with their successful athletic performance of long distance runners in Ethiopia than unsuccessful athletes. Openness (49.29%) and Extraversion (55.87%) were significantly week positive relationship associated with their successful athletic performance of long distance runners in Ethiopia than unsuccessful athletes. Neuroticism (5.14%) was not significantly positively correlated with sport performance for successful athlete.
Athlete performance, Long distance runners, Personality traits, Successful athletes, Unsuccessful Athletes
Sport psychology is the study of people and their behaviors in a sporting arena. Recently, interest in sport psychology has increased. Athletes’ and coaches talk regularly in the media about how sporting success can be attributed to how focused and motivated an athlete is, or how well a team has been able to work together. One of the aspects of the field is the determination of future performance through the possibility that elite athletes possess personality characteristics that make them successful in their particular sport [1]. Personality has to do with individual differences among people in behavior patterns, cognition and emotion. Personality can be conceptualized using personality traits. Personality traits are enduring personal characteristics that are revealed in a particular pattern of behavior in a variety of situations. Personality has a significant impact on behavior so on performance of individual in any domain.
Psychological characteristics are related to success in athletic endeavors. No intellectual individual would ever make light of the importance of physical skills or talent, but what is the equation for success when talent is equated across athletes? One’s performance is dependent on many factors including psychological traits. Athletics participation and their effectiveness are directly related to the personality traits like competitiveness, independence, self-esteem and extroversion.
The role of psychological preparation in sport is an important factor in athlete’s success. Psychological preparation of athletes may divide in to two one is the personality trait that athlete have in born, and other the developed behavior that an athlete developed through training [2]. Personality trait is an athlete inborn significantly influences athlete participation in sport and it influences the success of athlete in specific sport type. According to [3], personality represents a stable set of characteristics that are responsible for a person’s identity. The dimensions of personality are mostly outside our control but strongly influence our attitudes and our expectations and assumptions about others, thus influencing behavior [3,4]. Defines personality traits as the structures and propensities inside a person that explains his/her characteristic, patterns of thought, emotion and behavior. Personality captures what people are like and ability captures what people can do [4]. Personality traits are recurring regularities or trends in a [4] from the above scholars someone deduce that personality represents a process of change and it relates to the psychological growth and development of individuals. Personality factors are of extreme importance in today’s competitive organizational world. Often an unsuitable kind of personality proves disastrous and causes undesirable tensions and worries in organization. A consensus has emerged among trait theorists regarding a five-factor model of personality [5].
There are many personality tests in existence, but a commonly accepted empirical model in the social sciences is called the Big-Five, or equivalently the Five-Factor Model (FFM) [6,7]. Found that the five-factor model of personality could be used to make predictions about the athlete performance in sports. The five-factor model of personality is a very useful tool in assessing individual differences [8,9].
Contemporary research uses the Big Five personality factor model (Extraversion (E), Agreeableness (A), Conscientiousness (C), Neuroticism (N), and Openness (O)) as a reliable and valid measurement for psychological characteristics [9] based on the three main reasons. First, the five dimensions are rooted in biology [10] Second, the dimensions are relatively stable throughout life [9,10] and third, the dimensions are found in several cultures.
Ethiopian athletes in long distance running become the question or secrete of other countries. What factor contributes for their success? Since this question is not yet answered, this study could contribute in answering weather personality traits contribute for their success? Moreover, to what extent personality traits contribute for their success? The researcher initiated to the conduct research in the area of sport psychology i.e. how personality trait correlates to athletic success specifically to long distance running. The main intention is to identify the extent to which the personality trait contributed to the shining success of Ethiopian athletes in long distance running.
Initially letter of permission was taken from Debre Markos University, College of Natural and Computational Science, specially Research and Publication Office (RPO) and submitted to Ethiopian athletics Federation. Participants on the study were willing to the study. The researcher has been explained about the purpose of the study for every participant and obtains information consent before beginning of fulfilling questionnaire. Moreover, culture and value of all participants were taken in to account.
Cross-sectional study design was used. The populations of the study were categorized in to successful and unsuccessful athletes in long distance runner in Ethiopia. According to the record of Ethiopian athletics federation (2019/2020), 81 males and 57 females’ long distance runners were register from 6 clubs. Therefore, the targeted populations of the study were 138. Of the targeted population 34 successful athletes (21 males and 13 females) who have at list a bronze medal in national and international competition were purposively selected while, 39 (21 male and 18 females) were unsuccessful athletes who do not have medals were selected randomly as sample size of the study.
In order to gather first-hand information pertaining to the subject of the study Questionnaires were mainly used to collect quantitative data on athletes’ personality of long distance runners of Ethiopia and performance. Standardized questionnaires of personality traits were adopted. Athlete personality was assessed or measured by Mini-IPIP, (a 20-item short forms of the 50-item) International Personality Item Pool Five-Factor Model measure [8]. This dimension includes Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness, Extraversion and Neuroticism. Participants were required to indicate, on a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree) for successful and unsuccessful athletes.
The data from questionnaires were organized and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Mean, frequency, percentile and p-values were used to analyze data of successful and unsuccessful athlete of long distance runners in Ethiopia. Such interpretation procedure was based [8,9].
The data relevant to the study were gathered through the Big Five Inventory (BFI) psychometric assessment that measures athlete personality traits questions are employed. The data were gathered by comparing the results of both groups (successful and unsuccessful) athletes. The result of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits and performance/effectiveness in successful and unsuccessful athletes in long distance runners in Ethiopian. The data collected from athletes’ personality traits questionnaires (international personality item pool scale) from successful and unsuccessful athletes of long distance runners in Ethiopia. The results confirmed that agreeableness and conscientiousness are strong positive relationship with success, while openness and extraversion are weak positive relationship with success and neuroticism has negative relationship with success (Table 1).
Table 1: Raw score of demographic characteristics of respondents. View Table 1
Regarding to age of the respondents 37 (68.5%) were unsuccessful and 17 (31.5%) were successful of the age between 18-22 while, 2 (11.1%) were unsuccessful and 16 (88.9%) were successful athletes of the age to 23-26. From the above row data one can deduce that long distance athletes whose age is in between 18-26 may critical stage for success (P values show that P < 0.001). This result shows that younger athlete in long distance runners were more egger and show more enthusiasm in long distance running events and become successful.
According to raw score on Table 2, reveals that long distance runners and their number of medals (Gold, Silver and Bronze) in national and international levels. Most of the respondents 10 (13.69%) were received gold. 7(9.58%) of the respondents were received silver. While 17 (23.28%) of the respondents were received Bronze in national and international events therefore, athletes of long distance runners in Ethiopia have got a total medals of 34 in 2018.
Table 2: Raw scores related to number of medals winner. View Table 2
According to raw score on Table 3: 31 (91.17%) of successful athletes were strongly agree and no one of the respondents of unsuccessful athletes were strongly agree on the paraphrase while no one in unsuccessful athletes. Therefore, successful athletes at long distance runners were sympathizing (understanding) the feelings of other athletes [11]. Stated that, individuals that score high on the agreeableness traits can be described as soft-hearted, forgiving, honest and trusting. Individuals with low scores are described as mocking (disrespectful), rude (bud-mannered), Vengeful (unforgiving), or manipulative.
Table 3: Raw scores of agreeableness in successful & unsuccessful athletes. View Table 3
According to raw score on Table 3, item 3:2, show 14 (41.17%) successful and 7 (17.94%) of unsuccessful athletes in long distance runner were strongly disagree on the phrase of “I am not interested in others people problems” from this the result infer that long distance runner athletes who compete at national and international level were interested to know about problems which occurs on other athletes. Therefore, from the sample we realize that few successful athletes in long distance runner were less interested to know the problems of other athlete long distance runner. Agreeableness traits is typically associated with developing interpersonal relationships [12,13] found that more agreeable individual tend to use more accommodating strategies during conflicts than individuals with low scores, who conversely prefer more corrective approach [14]. Would appear that agreeableness trait would be associated with greater levels of team cohesiveness and positive interactions.
The 3.3 item in Table 3, respondents of successful athletes 22 (64.70%) responded that they were good feelings of other athletes emotions. While 29 (74.35%) of unsuccessful athletes were not good feelings (emotions) for other athletes. On the other hand few number of the respondents 5 (12.82%) of unsuccessful athletes were good feelings (emotions) of other athletes. Hence, the data shows that, successful athletes were good feelings (emotions) than unsuccessful athletes. Most scholars agreed that agreeableness assesses the quality of interpersonal instructions with others. There are six lower order facets of agreeableness, which include empathy (Understanding), sympathy (feeling), warmth (hotness), pleasantness (enjoyableness), cooperation and straightforwardness, the agreeableness trait has a positive impact on performance because it has an effect on communication and cohesion.
According to the raw score of Table 4 item 4.1, almost all 31 (91.17%) of the sample study, the respondents of successful athletes of long distance runners were strongly Agree on household tasks and 2 (5.88%) of the respondents were somewhat agree on the paraphrase. While, reverse were untrue for unsuccessful athletes. 16 (41.02%) of the sample studies of unsuccessful athletes were strongly disagree on this paraphrase. From the above sentences we simply infer that, successful athletes in long distance runners were not only engaged on competition and training but also engaged in house hold tasks.
Table 4: Raw scores of conscientiousness in successful & unsuccessful athletes. View Table 4
The 4.3 item in Table 4, show more than three quarter 21 (61.76%) of the respondents of successful athletes and a few number 4 (10.25%) of the respondents of unsuccessful athletes were strongly agree that they like instruction or command. Therefore, successful athletes were like instruction or command. The instruction were comes from coach, managers or friends. So, accepting commands or instructions were positive relationship with successful athletes than unsuccessful athletes. Past research has shown positive association between conscientiousness traits and athlete achievement. In two studies that utilized the five factorial models, researchers found positive correlation between the conscientiousness trait with football rankings [11] and soccer game statistics [15]. Suggest that conscientiousness trait may be related to training adherence and this, therefore, creates more confidence and less anxiety. Individuals with higher conscientiousness scores are often described as self-disciplined, punctual and ambitious, whereas low scores are describes as lazy, unreliable, or inconsiderate [11].
Item 5.1 in Table 5, show Majority of the respondents in successful athlete 31 (91.17%) of respondents were somewhat agree on bright imagination. While, 20 (51.28%) of the respondents of unsuccessful athletes were responded that they were strongly disagree on bright imaginative. From this we deduce that as openness traits of personality in successful and unsuccessful athletes were week positive relationship. Openness to experiences identifies proactive seeking of new experiences and tolerance for the unknown. Individuals with higher scores can be described as imaginative, creative and non-conventional and lower score are more often described as traditional, down-to-earth, and inartistic [11].
Table 5: Raw scores of openness for successful & unsuccessful athletes. View Table 5
On Table 6 items 6.1, majority of the respondents of successful athletes 20 (58.82%) and 14 (35.89%) of unsuccessful athletes were somewhat agree on the paraphrase of “I am the life of the party”. So that individual athletes with high extraversion scores are often described as bold, assertive and talkative .While 10 (29.41%) of successful athlete and 5 (12.82%) of unsuccessful athlete were responded strongly agree. Therefore, lower scores can be described as unsocial, quiet, reserved or serious.
Table 6: Raw scores of extraversion in successful & unsuccessful athletes. View Table 6
The 6.2 item, in Table 6, show that 20 (58.82%) of successful athletes and 17 (43.58%) of unsuccessful athletes were strongly agree that they do not talk a lot. They were no one (0%) of successful and unsuccessful athletes were strongly disagree on the paraphrase. So, individual athletes with high extraversion scores are often described as bold, assertive and talkative and lower scores can be described as unsocial, quiet, reserved or serious.
On Table 7 item 8.1, majority of the respondents of unsuccessful athletes 19 (48.71%) and 1 (2.94%) of successful athletes were strongly agree on the paraphrase of “In general, I have frequent mood swings/ fluctuates”. While the reverse 2 (5.12%) of unsuccessful athletes and 12 (35.29%) of successful athletes were strongly disagree on the paraphrase of “In general, I have frequent mood swings/fluctuates”.
Table 7: Raw scores of neuroticism on successful & unsuccessful athletes. View Table 7
On the same table, item 8.3, Majority of the respondents of unsuccessful 25 (64.10%) and 0 (0%) of successful athletes were strongly agree on the paraphrase of “In general, I get upset easily”. While, 3 (7.69%) of unsuccessful and 22 (64.70%) of successful athletes were responded that they are strongly disagree on the paraphrase.
On the same table, item 8.4, majority of the respondents 20 (51.28%) of unsuccessful and minority of the respondents 2 (5.88%) of successful athlete were responded that they are strongly agree they seldom feel blue/depressed before competition. While, minority of the respondents of unsuccessful athletes 3 (7.69%) and Majority of the successful athletes 18 (52.94%) of the respondents were responded that they were strongly disagree on they seldom feel blue/depressed before competition in long distance running.
In general, from the above three paragraph, the neuroticism trait contains the following lower order facets: Low tranquility (calm), high impulsivity, high hostility, anxiety (nervousness), depressive outlook and self-consciousness( judge, et al., in press) there for, individuals with higher neuroticism scores tend to be described as worrying, nervous, insecure and inadequate [11].
Personality of an individual defined differentially by different scholars. But the main concept is almost similarly described. As all personality “Is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.” Personality as “It is the sum total of an individual’s characteristics which make him unique”. These and other definitions of personality give us a concept that personality trait determine the individual’s activity that is unique to his/her.
Generally, as we see in literatures personality trait can determine the activities of individuals. In the conditions of athletes, personality traits like extroversion, independence competitiveness, self-esteem and anxiety are significantly different than non-athletes. On the other hand, the companion of successful athletes to unsuccessful athletes shows a significant difference in personality. That is a successful athlete reflects more extroversion, independence and competitiveness than unsuccessful athletes but less in anxiety.
The theory of trait indicates that, personality can be described in terms of traits possessed by individuals. These traits are considered synonymous with pre-dispositions to act in a certain way. Traits are considered to be enduring stable and consistent in different situations [16]. Predisposition toward certain trait means not that the individual will always respond in this manner, but certain likelihood exists. Several research findings have been done in the area if sport psychology to clarify that the relationship between personality and sport performance.
Researcher compare athletes and non-athletes in terms of personality and have found that athletes are different in their personality than none athletes. Athletes who participate in team and individual sport are more independent, more objective, and less anxious than none athletes. Additionally, [16] have stated that, athletes are more competitive, self-confident, socially out going and extrovert than none athletes. The national team in Ukraine and has found that psychological trait strongly determine the performance of athletes. In his words, psychological traits strongly determine which athlete will be successful and which athlete will fail. The inner trait of an athlete is the determinant factor to his or her success in addition to physical training and environmental conditions.
The big five personality dimensions do not represent a particular theoretical perspective but were derived from analyses of the natural language and describe the most basic and general dimensions upon which persons are typically perceived to differ. Perhaps the most significant advance in this area was the development of the five-factor model/five-factor theory of personality [17]. The five-factor model adopts the basic tenets of trait theory (e.g. cross-situational consistency) and contends that the five personality dimensions, named extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness, each encompass a number of more specific traits (termed facets). For example, the neuroticism dimension assesses the degree to which individuals are prone to emotional instability and includes facets of anxiety, hostility, depression, self-consciousness, impulsiveness and vulnerability.
Personality theorists have created a number of inventories to assess an individual’s personality. Derived from Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF; [18] the five factorial models is one of the most common and empirically tested assessments for explaining personality. The five factorial models provide a framework for describing personality and have been supported through application and practice [19]. Arguably, the most popular trait theory in contemporary personality psychology is the five-factor model, developed by [9]; however, sport psychologists have been fairly slow to recognize its importance, and there are few published studies making use of it.
The agreeableness factor accounts for the quality of relationships with others [11]. Agreeableness explains how an individual acts with and towards others. Individuals with higher scores tend to act unselfishly and regard others with sympathy. These individuals can be described as trusting, honest, humble and forgiving. Individuals with lower scores are typically not concerned about other people [20]. Individuals with low agreeableness scores can be described as hostile, suspicious, manipulative, selfish and stubborn [20].
The conscientiousness factor describes an individual’s task orientation and goal-orientation behaviors as well as their level of impulse control [11]. Individuals with high conscientiousness scores “control their behavior in the service of their goals,” [20]. These individuals are often described as careful, self-disciplined, ambitious, efficient and organized [20]. Low scorers reflect behaviors of disorganization, unreliability and tend to have a hard time keeping a consistent schedule [20]. These individuals can also be described as: Lax, lazy, weak-willed or untidy [20].
The openness to experience factor (also referred to as intellect) assesses an individual’s level of adventurous and self-seeking qualities. Individuals with high scores have a tendency to seek out new experiences [20]. These individuals are often described as imaginative, artistic, curious and empathic [20]. Low scorers are typically traditional, conservative and prefer familiarity [20]. Lower openness to experience scores also reflects individuals that are described as “down-to-earth”, old-fashioned or concrete [20].
The extraversion factor assesses the amount of social interaction, activity level and the feature of joy in an individual [11]. Extraversion is the sociability factor and assesses how “outgoing” an individual may be. Individuals with higher scores prefer frequent interpersonal interactions and are typically energized and optimistic [20]. These individuals can be described as warm, sociable, active, fun-loving, dominant and cheerful. Individuals with lower scores are more reserved and prefer a few close relationships than Compared to a large group of people.
The neuroticism factor identifies individuals whom are emotionally stable or emotionally unstable. This trait recognizes, “persons who tend to feel negative emotions (anxieties, bitterness, sorrow), who suffer from unrealistic ideas, excessive yearning and urges and have or suffer from maladaptive stress-coping strategies,” [11]. High scorers experience a variety of emotional distresses [20]. These individuals can be described as: Anxious, irritable, self-conscious and impulsive [20].
Tutko & Ogilvie produced a personality test called the Athletic Motivation Inventory (AMI) to measure these traits. Most sport psychologists agree that the AMI was seriously flawed, and contemporary research does not support the idea that the AMI can distinguish between successful and unsuccessful athletes. Studies using superior personality tests have found some evidence that aspects of personality are associated with athletic success [21] placed American college athletes in categories representing their level of skill. They were then tested with the 16PF.
Based on the major findings of the study, the relationship between personality traits and performance/effectiveness in successful and unsuccessful athlete in long distance runners in of Ethiopian were concluded as follows:
The results of the study confirm the fact that agreeableness’ and conscientiousness were significantly strong positive relationship associated with their successful athletic performance of long distance runners in Ethiopia than unsuccessful athletes. The magnitude of this association is consistent with previous research done in Ardebil city (Iran) Adel M, et al. [22].
The results of the study confirm that openness and extraversion were significantly week positive relationship associated with their successful athletic performance of long distance runners in Ethiopia than unsuccessful athletes. Individual with high score (successful athletes) prefer frequent interpersonal interactions and typically energized and optimistic [20]. Successful athletes can be described as warm, sociable, active, fun-loving, dominant and cheerful than unsuccessful athletes. So, the result showed that significantly week positive relationship.
The results of the study confirm that neuroticism was not significantly positively relationship with sport performance for successful athletes in long distance runners in Ethiopia rather weak relationship. This traits recognizes “person who tend to feel negative emotions (anxieties, bitterness, sorrow), who suffer from unrealistic ideas, excessive desire and urges and have or suffered from maladaptive stress-coping strategies”. Therefore, there was not significant positive predictor of sport performance in successful athletes Piedmont, et al. [7]; Salgado [23]; Aidman and Schofield [24].
This study received specific financial support from Debre Markos University.
The author’s declares that there are no conflicts of interests regarding the publication of this article.
We want to express our gratitude to Ethiopian athletics federation, athletes and athletes’ coaches.