EXTROVERSION, NEUROTICISM, PSYCHOTICISM AND RECREATIONAL CHOICE

Over 300 men and women completed a personality questionnaire measuring extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism and an inventory attempting to ascertain recreational interests. There were numerous, predictable sex differences in recreational preference and a clear factor structure to the questionnaire measure of recreational interest. Pearson correlations and multiple regression showed extraversion to be the most powerful correlate of recreational preference. In the final analysis subjects were allocated to groups depending on whether they were active (exercisers) vs passive (non-exercisers); high vs low group oriented; and those who preferred competitive vs non-competitive sports. Extraversion and to a lesser extent neuroticism was clearly related to these groupings. The results are discussed in terms of Eysenck's theories and previous work on sports and recreational psychology. © 1991.