Personality traits and the role of gender in swimmers at the leisure level

Abstract

We used the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ; Caprara, Barbaranelli, & Borgogni, 1993) with swimmers engaged in indoor practice at the leisure level (50 male, 50 female) to measure whether personality traits are associated with swimming. We also examined the concept that scores on some personality traits can have a reciprocal closely intermingled influence on other personality traits, and that gender can play a role in modulating personality. We found that the swimmers were characterized by evidence of personality traits distributed within moderate middle scores in personality factors, contributing to well-being and satisfaction with life. We also found correlations within factors and subfactors, showing a close relationship among personality traits. Gender also plays a role in the measurement of personality traits as gender has a statistically significant effect on extraversion.