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Brawn and Brains: An Exploration of Personality in Strength Sports Athletes

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Dissertation(915.78 KB)

Date

2023

Authors

Supervisor

Uthoff, Aaron

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Master of Sport, Exercise and Health

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Publisher

Auckland University of Technology

Abstract

Strength sports athletes partake in resistance training behaviours to excel in subtly different strength disciplines. This subgroup of athletes provides an opportunity to discern nuanced differences in personality within a population that consistently adheres to resistance training. Therefore, the aim of this dissertation was to explore the personality dimensions of strength sports athletes to understand whether distinct characteristics are present. Chapter 2 presents a narrative review of the current knowledge about the personality of strength sports athletes from personality and adjacent psychological research. The findings from the review suggested that personality differences are likely expected amongst different strength sports, both dimensionally and at the facet level. However, the review also highlights the dearth of information pertaining to personality research in strength sports athletes, thus indicating further research is warranted. Consequently, chapter 3 explored the personality of five strength sport athlete groups: bodybuilding, powerlifting, weightlifting, strongman/strongwoman athletes, and CrossFit® athletes. It was found that CrossFit® athletes ranked significantly lower on neuroticism (p < 0.01). Additionally, significant facet level differences in artistic interest (p < 0.01), liberalism (p = 0.05), orderliness (p = 0.05), cautiousness (p = 0.04), immoderation (p < 0.01) and vulnerability (p = 0.02) were observed among strength sports athletes. The discussions and conclusion in Chapter 4 contain important limitations and practical recommendations. Specifically, CrossFit® athletes ranked lower on neuroticism and vulnerability, which may indicate that either adopting this style of training has a positive influence on affect and personality or that this sport attracts individuals with lower neuroticism and vulnerability. Furthermore, bodybuilders ranked higher on artistic interest and cautiousness, which may indicate that individuals who are aesthetics-orientated and/or injury-avoidant may prefer this style of training. These findings suggest that a facet-level analysis provides more information about the personality characteristics of different strength sports athletes than the more common dimensional approach. However, additional research exploring the personality of strength athletes over time is needed to further the understanding of this phenomenon.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10292/16865

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Masters Dissertations