Sport-specific personality traits in national-level athletes: A comparative analysis

Aim: This study compares sport-specific personality traits (e.g., competitiveness in individual sports vs. team orientation in team sports) among national-level athletes. It analyzes how these traits differ across sport types and their impact on performance. Subjects: A total of 60 National Level players of Individual sports and Team sports aged 18 and 25 years, were selected as subjects for this study. The participants were evenly divided into six groups based on the category of sport they were associated with, Group A represented individual sports that including athletes from Archery, Shooting, and Boxing and Group B represented team sports that comprising athletes from Football, Volleyball, and Basketball. Each subgroup included 10 participants to ensure equal representation across all sports. Statistical Analysis: One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): Utilized to assess the sport-specific personality between National Level players of Individual sports and team sports SPSS 27: All calculations and statistical evaluations were conducted using SPSS 27. The significance level for hypothesis testing was set at 0. 05. Results: The study identified notable sport-specific personality differences among national-level athletes. In individual sports, archers showed significantly lower extroversion than shooters and boxers, reflecting the solitary demands of archery. Team sports revealed that football players had higher dominance, while basketball players showed greater conventionality than volleyball players. Overall, certain traits like mental toughness and self-concept varied by sport, while others such as sociability remained consistent across groups. Conclusion: In conclusion, the study highlights that specific sports significantly influence certain personality traits among national-level athletes. Extroversion varied notably in individual sports, while Dominance, Conventionality, and Mental Toughness differed in team sports, reflecting the unique psychological demands of each discipline. Traits like Sociability, Emotional Stability, and Self-Concept remained consistent, suggesting a core psychological stability across athletes. These findings underline the value of psychological profiling in sports training and athlete development, with further research needed to expand and validate these insights.