Dimensions of personality and the quality of peer relationships between cadet football players: Determinants of self-esteem

Abstract

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine personality traits and the variables of peer context in predicting self-esteem of cadet football players. The research was conducted on the pertinent sample of 136 preadolescents from three football clubs from Valjevo (M = 13.56 godina; SD = 1.14). The following measuring instruments were used: the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (BFQ), The Inventory of Peer Attachment-Revised (IPA-R), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), which all showed high internal consistency with the Cronbach's Alpha coefficients. Descriptive statistics, the Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple regression analysis were used for data processing, while the value of p ≤ .01 is defined as statistically significant. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the applied group of predictor variables predicts 53% of the total variance of self-esteem. The obtained findings also suggest that out of all the personality traits, emotional instability and energy are statistically relevant independent predictors of self-esteem, while the quality of peer attachment is the most statistically significant variable of peer context. The obtained findings confirmed the reliability of the measuring instruments used in the research, and that the same can be used for future researches conducted of athletes in the period of early adolescence.