Personality Characteristics of the Female Athletes and Non-Athletes

It is often claimed that participation in sport activities and exercise is associated with range of psychological benefits. studies have repeatedly shown that athletes score higher on measures of extraversion and lower on neuroticism. individuals are thought to strive for situations that are congruent with their personalities. specifically, extraverts crave excitement and seek out strong sensory stimulation as might be afforded by sports and exercise; neurotics, on the other hand, tend to avoid arousing situations such as those involving competition or social interaction. the aim of the current study was to indicate the personality characteristics of female athletes and non-athletes students. a panel of 140 female was built up from athletes and non-athletes of tabriz university those who took part in sport teams training and champions and their friends. extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism scores were obtained using the eysenck personality questionnaire (1975). statistical analyses were conducted using spss for windows 11.0. there were overall significant differences in the personality characteristics between female athletes and non-athletes. athletes were rated as more extravert (p< 0.05) whereas non-athletes were rated as more in neuroticism and psychoticism (p< 0.05) [table 1].