The investigation of personality characteristics in athlete andnon-athlete students

The purpose of this study was comparison of big five personality traits including Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to experiences, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness between athlete (n=263) and non-athlete (n=263) students. To evaluation of variables, NEO-FFI (revised short form) personality questionnaire used that designed by Costa & McCrea (1992). Independent T-test was used to comparison of athlete and non-athlete students in five personality traits. The research results showed that there were significant differences between groups in neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, but, no any differences observed between groups in openness to experiences. Athletes’ group gained higher score at Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness and lower score at Neuroticism.