COMPETITIVE SPORTS PARTICIPATION, PERSONALITY ON RESILIENCE AND COPING MECHANISM: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY AMONG MALAYSIA STUDENTS

Abstract In the 21st century, developing resilience and coping skills is crucial for personal progress, a fact underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic. Past research has shown that participation in competitive sports and individual personality traits significantly influence the development of these skills. However, limited studies have explored this in Malaysia's secondary school students. This study examined differences in resilience and coping mechanisms among Malaysian secondary students based on competitive sports participation and personality traits. Data from 100 secondary students were collected through online surveys and analysed using the Big Five Inventory, Resilience Scale (RS-14), and Brief COPE instruments to assess personality, resilience, and coping styles. Findings revealed that students engaged in competitive sports displayed higher resilience levels and preferred adaptive coping strategies. Positive correlations were found between resilience and personality traits like conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness, while neuroticism had a negative but no statistical correlation. Similarly, adaptive coping showed positive correlations with openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion, with negligible correlation observed for neuroticism. Maladaptive coping was positively correlated with neuroticism, openness, and extraversion. It was negatively correlated with conscientiousness and agreeableness. However, openness, extraversion, and agreeableness showed no statistical correlation with maladaptive coping. Resilience displayed a strong positive correlation with adaptive coping and a weak negative correlation with maladaptive coping. These findings suggest that stakeholders should consider interventions to enhance resilience and encourage adaptive coping mechanisms among students, with the understanding of how sports participation and personality traits interplay.