Investigation of personality type and physical activity level in physiotherapy and rehabilitation department students

Aims: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between personality types and physical activity levels among undergraduate students in the department of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. Methods: The participants’ physical activity levels were assessed using the short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). To evaluate the participants’ personality traits, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised/Short Scale was used. The relationship between individuals’ personality traits and physical activity levels was determined using Spearman’s rank correlation analysis. Results: The study included 180 undergraduate students from the department of physiotherapy and rehabilitation. The results revealed a strong correlation between severe metabolic equivalent (MET) (r: 0.246, p: 0.001), moderate MET (r: 0.196, p: 0.009) and total MET (r: 0.202, p: 0.007) with psychoticism. Additionally, a strong correlation was observed between extraversion and walking MET (r: 0.180, p: 0.017) as well as total MET (r: 0.196, p: 0.009). Conclusion: Students with personality traits of psychoticism and extraversion tend to be physically more active.This study shows that physical-activity levels may be predicted by personality traits on Turkish physiotherapy and rehabilitation students.