The Validity of a Composite of Nineteen Personality Variables in Differentiating Between American World Class Olympic Contenders and Undergraduate Education Majors

Abstract

The differential validity of 19 personality variables was examined in a comparison of the affective characteristics of a sample of American World Class Olympic contenders (N = 48) with those of a group of undergraduate education majors (N = 63). A two-group discriminant analysis yielded a canonical correlation of .58 (p < .01). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) provided a multivanate F calculated to be 2.38 (df = 19 and 91) significant at the .01 level. The analysis revealed that the variables predicted group membership with 83.8% and 69.8% accuracy, respectively, for the American World Class Olympic contenders and education undergraduates. The conclusion was that the composite of affective measures exhibited promising validity, although cross-validation studies are very much needed. It was also concluded that American World Class contenders appeared to be reserved, intellectual, critical, aloof, conservative, and traditional as compared to undergraduate education majors who tended to be outgoing, easy going, and liberal. Moreover, the undergraduates appeared to be more humble, mild, tough-minded, adaptable, group dependent, and relaxed, whereas the athletes seemed to be more aggressive, stubborn, tender-minded, self-sufficient, and tense.

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