Personality, Fitness, And Mood In Army Rotc Cadets

Abstract

The relationship between personality traits and mood states is well-known. Typically, less neuroticism and greater extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness is associated with more desirable mood states and better emotion regulation (e.g., Barańczuk et al., 2019). Improved physical fitness also has been shown to be related to better mood states (Ahn et al., 2021; Crowley et al., 2015). However, no studies have examined the relationship of personality and fitness on mood states of ROTC cadets or whether one or more of these variables are better at predicting mood states in this population. PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between Big Five personality traits, fitness, and mood in college Army ROTC cadets. METHODS: Army ROTC cadets (6 females, 15 males; Mage = 21.7 yrs) at a D-I university in the Midwest completed the Big Five Inventory, Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT), and Profile of Mood States. The independent variables were personality [extraversion (E), negative emotionality (NE), conscientiousness (C), agreeableness (A), open-mindedness (OM)] and ACFT overall fitness score. The dependent variable was Total Mood Disturbance (TMD). Pearson correlations were computed to identify whether personality traits and fitness were related (p < .10) to TMD. Variables related to TMD were included in a backward multiple regression to predict TMD. RESULTS: TMD was correlated with E (r = -.63, p < .005), C (r = -.56, p < .001), NE (r = .71, p < .001), and fitness (r = -.39, p < .10). The full model with all four variables included in the regression was significant, R2 = .68, p < .001. The final model included only E and C as predictor variables, R2 = .65, p < .001. CONCLUSION: Personality traits and fitness were related to mood states in Army ROTC cadets, but extraversion and conscientiousness were found to be the best predictors of mood. A possible explanation may be that a cadet’s personality is associated with better stress-coping behaviors and more positive (re)assessment of life experiences (Yarosh et al., 2021). Related, extraverted naval cadets were found to make better use of personal strengths on a daily basis contributing to well-being (Bakker et al., 2019). Thus, personality screening may help identify at-risk cadets who may benefit from interventions designed to teach coping strategies and promote well-being.