Relationships between temperament, personality traits and motivation of adolescents from Rio de Janeiro to physical education classes

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits, temperament and motivation of adolescents from Rio de Janeiro to participate in school physical education classes. A descriptive, cross-sectional research was carried out, where 17 males and 21 females between 16-19 years old participated (n=38). The instruments for data collection were: the Big Five Personality Factor Inventory (IGFP-5); the Questionnaire on Student Motivation for Physical Education developed by Kobal (1996); Pavlov's Temperament Inventory; and a supplementary sociodemographic questionnaire. A mean positive correlation was found between: 1) extrinsic motivation and inhibitory strength (rho=0.313; p=0.048); 2) extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation (rho=0.397; p=0.014). There was a significant difference of ixtrinsic motivation in favour of male students when compared to the group of female students (p=0.009). A significant difference was also observed in the degree of extroversion of physically active individuals compared to sedentary individuals (p=0.027), being this trait higher in the first group. It was concluded that there is a relationship between inhibition strength and extrinsic motivation for participation in physical education classes among the investigated students. In addition, it w3as also identified that in this group: 1) extrinsic and intrinsic motivation are not mutually exclusive; 2) extrinsic motivation predominates among male subjects.