Relationship between Personality Traits and Physical Activity Participation

Objective of the study was to explore the affiliation amongst the Personality Traits and physical activity participation based on Area of Study, Program Level and Year of Program and Type of Physical Activity (Group and Individual Activities). Two hundreds and five 205 participants (117 males and 88 females; M age = 20.69; SD = 1.465) from a local institution of higher learning in Malaysia partook in this study. Participants completed two inventories: Godin-Shepard Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire by Godin & Shepard (1985) and the Big-Five Inventory by John & Srivastava (1999) for data collection. Findings indicated that Extraversion (r = 0.160, p = 0.022) and Openness (r = 0.148, p = 0.034) were positively correlated with physical activity participation. Extraversion based on Area of Study was also significant (F (5,199) = 2.750; p = 0.020). Gender (M = 23.92, SD = 5.864, p = 0.035); type of physical activity (M = 23.92, SD = 5.864, p = 0.047) and area of study (F (5,199) = 5.454, p = 0.000) were significant for Neuroticism. Age group (M = 23.92, SD = 5.864, p = 0.005) was significant for Openness. This study indicated that personality traits are one of the contributing factors that attribute towards physical activity participation on an individual.