Personality differences according to participation in or abstention from sport, competition level and age category in football players based on Costa and McCraes´s Model

Abstract

The objective of this study was to help clarify the study of athletes’ personality on the basis of Costa and McCrae’s model (1995). to this end, personality differences according to participation or abstention from sport, competitive level and sport category by the athletes’ age. the sample consisted of 155 high-level football players (cadets, youth and adults), 33 (adult) amateur footballers and 32 (adult) non-athletes. the results indicate that the high-level adult athletes were more extraverted, emotionally stable and responsible than the amateur adult athletes and adult non-athletes. In addition, top adult athletes were more emotionally stable than young players. Also, high-level adult footballers were more open to the experience than the cadets or young players. And lastly, high-level adult players were more responsible than cadet players. the results are discussed on the basis of the “gullible perspectives vs. sceptical perspectives” and “development vs. selection hypothesis”.