Predicting athletic performance using the five-factormodel of personality

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to determine if the dimensions of thefive-factor model of personality could be used as predictors of athletic performance and (b) todemonstrate the utility of the five-factor model as a theoretical paradigm capable of organizingpersonality research on athletic competition. Subjects were 79 female athletes from four differentwomens NCAA Division 1 soccer teams. All subjects completed a bipolar adjective scaledesigned to measure the five factors. Coaches ratings on several performance dimensions andactual game statistics were also collected. Regression analyses indicated that the personalitydimensions of neuroticism and conscientiousness explained approximately 23% of the variancein coaches ratings, while conscientiousness was the sole predictor of actual games statistics,explaining about 8% of the variance. The potential theoretical and empirical value of thesefindings were discussed.