High school students' sports personalities: Variations across participation level, gender, type of sport, and success

Personality has become an increasingly important area in sport psychology as attempts are made to understand, explain, and predict levels of sporting involvement and success. To further understand these relationships, 312 Grade 11 and 12 students completed a battery of personality and mood-state inventories consisting of the STAI, EPQ and POMS, and were then categorized by (i) participation in sport, (ii) type of sport played, and (iii) level of success experienced. A MANOVA indicated that sports participants exhibited significantly different personality profiles from non-participantsunivariate tests showed that the participants were more extraverted and vigorous, and less anxious, neurotic, depressed and confused. Gender differences noted for sports participants continued across type of sport and success level. Elite athletes were found to have a mood profile significantly different from non-elite athletes, and almost congruent with Morgan's (1980) "iceberg" profile. Results support the view that sports participation is associated with positive mental health.