<p> This study investigated the relationships between birth order, personality, mental toughness, and performance as they relate to trained collegiate athletes in the sports of Men's and Women's Basketball. There were three variables measured: personality, mental toughness, and performance. There were 238 participants in this study: 149 females and 89 males. All participants were NCAA collegiate basketball players. Participants' ages ranged from 18 to 24. Participants were administered the NEO Five Factor Inventory questionnaire to assess personality, while mental toughness was assessed using the Mental Toughness Scale (Madrigal & Hamill, 2013). To measure performance, statistics were obtained from the 2013-14 collegiate regular season and computed into an overall performance score (Ramos-Villagrasa & Navarro, 2013). Correlational analyses were conducted to determine the relationships between birth order, personality, mental toughness, performance score, and performance statistics. Based on past research, it was hypothesized that middleborns would score the highest in mental toughness while firstborns would score higher than lastborns (who will score the lowest). Hypotheses for the big five traits were as follows: Openness: middleborns would score the highest, followed by lastborns, then firstborns. Conscientiousness: firstborns would score the highest, then middleborns, then lastborns. Extroversion: middleborns would score the highest, then firstborns, and finally lastborns. Agreeableness: lastborns and middleborns would not differ, but would both score higher than firstborns. Neuroticism: lastborns would score highest, followed by firstborns, then middleborns. It was hypothesized that high conscientiousness and extroversion, along with low neuroticism would indicate higher mental toughness, while other big five traits would not factor into determining mental toughness. Higher mental toughness scores were hypothesized to result in higher performance scores. Middleborns were hypothesized to have the highest performance scores, followed by firstborns, and finally lastborns. The results of this study did not support any of the hypotheses regarding birth order. The results did support the hypothesis that high conscientiousness and extroversion, along with low neuroticism would predict higher mental toughness. The results also partially supported the hypothesis that higher mental toughness would yield higher performance scores.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:1560928 |
| Date | 19 September 2014 |
| Creators | Wiseman, Oliver |
| Publisher | Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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