ABSTRACT
A fundamental goal of early sport personality researchers appears to have been to examine whether the possession of certain personality characteristics enhances an individual’s chances of sporting success. Historically, a fundamental challenge for personality psychologists has been to summarize the numerous personality descriptors that exist into a manageable number of constructs that adequately describe the organization of human traits. Although research examining the direct link between the Big 5 and sporting performance may be some way from maturity, a more fruitful line of inquiry has been the exploration of the relationships between the Big 5 and factors that contribute to long-term athletic development and achievement. A second way in which Big 5 research in sport could be more nuanced is for researchers to more carefully explore the interactive effects of the Big 5 dimensions, rather than solely exploring main effects.
