Research on the Relations Among Personality Traits, Sports Commitment, and Exercise Behavior — A Case Study of Chinese College Students

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the relations among personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behavior of Chinese college students. To test whether sports commitment plays an intermediary role in the process of personality traits affecting exercise behavior. To explore the factors that affect Chinese college students’ exercise behavior from the psychological level, to promote college students to actively participate in physical exercise.

Methods

A questionnaire survey was conducted on 1200 students from 6 universities using the “Personality Trait Scale”, “Sports Commitment Scale” and “Exercise Behavior Scale”. SPSS was used to analyze the differences between genders and urban and rural areas; and correlation analysis was conducted on the personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behaviors of college students. Finally, AMOS was used to establish a structural equation model to test the mediating role of sports commitment.

Results

There are significant differences between different genders in each factor of personality traits (P<0.05); there is no significant difference between different genders in the participation opportunities of sports commitment (P=0.734), and there are significant differences in other factors. There were significant differences in each factor of exercise behavior (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behavior between urban and rural students (P> 0.05). There was a significant correlation among personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behavior (P < 0.01). The direct effect of personality traits on exercise behavior was not significant (P > 0.05), but there was only the mediating effect of sports commitment.

Conclusion

There is a significant correlation among Chinese college students’ personality traits, sports commitment, and exercise behavior. Sports commitment plays an intermediary role between personality traits and sports commitment. Improving the level of sports commitment can encourage Chinese college students to participate in physical exercise.

Keywords:

• personality traits
• sports commitment
• exercise behavior
• AMOS

Statement of Human and Animal Rights

The present work did not involve human participants and/or animals.

Data Sharing Statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics Statement

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhengzhou Sias University. Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in this study.

Consent for Publication

All authors had reviewed the final manuscript and gave consent for submission and publication.

Disclosure

Zhendong Zhang and Yonghuan Chen are co-first authors for this study. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.