Personality characteristics, sports types, and demographics of Kano-State professional athletes

Abstract

Background: Personality traits do influence the type of games that professional athletes participate in. Specific studies on this phenomenon are scare in Nigeria. Purpose of Study: This study examined the personality characteristics that influence some Nigerian professional athletes in their choice of games as individual or team sportsmen. It also relates significant personality traits with participants' sociodemographic characteristics to identify any influence that may exist. Methods: Personality characteristics of 250 Kano-State professional athletes were assessed using the 100-item International Personality Item Pool. Information was also collected on participants' sociodemographics, psychoactive substance using status, and game types. Results: Significant differences (P < 0.05) were noted in some personality traits between individual sport athletes and team sportsmen. Specifically, individual athletes were more extraverted and lower in conscientiousness (CO) compared to team sportsmen. Sociodemographic distributions based on significant personality traits of extraversion (EX) and CO show female gender to significantly contribute more to EX and less to CO. Other demographics significantly influencing higher EX is playing as professionals for <6 years. That associated with higher CO is to have <13 years of Western education. Conclusion: The study indicated that professional athletes' choice of sports types were influenced by specific personality dimensions and that some demographic variables do play some roles in this.