Dr.Hab., Professor I.F. Andrushchishin¹
I.P. Sivokhin²
PhD G. Tolegenova³
N.A. Ogienka^2
1Kazakh Academy of Sports and Tourism, Almaty, Kazakhstan
²Kostanay State Pedagogical University, Kostanay, Kazakhstan
³Turan-Astana, Astana, Kazakhstan

Keywords: elite female weightlifters, personality qualities, competitive success rate.

Background. Every decision made by an athlete in competitions may have immense effects both for the individual success and the national team standing [4-6]. A theoretical analysis of the available literature on the subject shows that the personality related issues versus the competitive progress rating studies are still very limited, mostly related to the men's sports or gender-unspecific. The study was designed to rate the personality qualities versus the competitive success rates in elite women's weightlifting sport.

Methods and structure of the study. We used the Cattel Personality Factor Questionnaire to profile the personality qualities of the elite women weightlifters versus their competitive success rates – i.e. the averaged ( ) percentages of the successful attempts to the total attempts in snatch and clean-and-jerk events. Correlations of the personality qualities with the competitive success rates were found using the Pearson's linear correlation coefficient (r); and a two-factor dispersion analysis was used to rate the competitive successes in the light, middle and heavyweight classes [3]. Sampled for the study were elite weightlifters (n=15) from the women’s national team of Kazakhstan Republic, five of whom are ranked with the top-ten global leaders and the others ranked 20-30ies on the global ranking list. Averaged competitive success rates were computed for the five top-ranking events including the 2012-17 World, Asia and Kazakhstan Championships.

Results and discussion. Given on Figure 1 hereunder are the athletes’ personality quality profiles generated by the Cattel Personality Factor Questionnaire.

Figure 1. Athletes’ personality quality profiles generated by the Cattel Personality Factor Questionnaire

Most expressed in the sample were the following personality qualities: anxiety (O factor, 6.7 points); proneness to leadership (E factor, 6.5 points); volitional self-controls (Q₃ factor, 6.4 points); radicalism (Q₁ factor, 6.4 points); activity (H factor, 6.2 points) and reactive balance (F₃ factor, 6.2 points); and the least expressed was the thinking pace (В factor, 3.5 points). We have good reasons to believe that the above personality qualities dominate in the personality profiles of the sample and may be used to design the relevant model personality. The other key personality qualities in the Cattel Personality Factor Questionnaire were found less expressed and less important for the competitive progress in elite weightlifting sport.

It should be mentioned that the contributions of reactive balance (F₃) and anxiety (О) were found matching with the A.A. Babayan findings albeit there we found the O factor expressivity much higher than in the latter study [1] – that may be due to the fact that women are generally more prone to anxiety than men.

Furthermore we found the personality qualities correlated with the competitive success rates in a few aspects. Thus the collectivism rate was found correlated  (r=0.58; р< 0.05) with the age group (indirect competitive success rate) i.e. the athletes were found to develop proneness to collectivism, cooperation, mutual help, support and approval with age in their training and competitive interactions. We found a negative correlation between the weight class and H factor (r=-0,60; р< 0,05) i.e. the lighter athletes were naturally found more active, prone to risks, experiments and novelties being driven by rather spontaneous emotions than reasoning.

We found the personality anxiety (О factor and secondary F₁ factor) being positively correlated with the competitive success rate in snatch (r=0.55; р< 0.05 for the number of successful attempts and r=0.55; р< 0.05 for the success percentage) and the total sport rankings (r=0.61; р< 0.05). The personality anxiety was found significantly correlated with the snatch success rate and the individual ranking/ mastery. It should be noted in this context that most of the sport psychology studies including those with application of the Cattel system report the excessive anxiety being detrimental to competitive performance.

The other competitive success rates (numbers and percentages of successful attempts in snatch event; total scores in snatch and clean-and-jerk; sport records on the whole and in elite sport etc.) were found uncorrelated with the personality qualities. The limited correlations found by the study give reasons to believe that the personality qualities are of little effect on the competitive progress in the elite women weightlifting sport – since only two qualities of twenty in the Cattel Personality Factor Questionnaire were found of some effect on the competitive performance.

Conclusion. The high-value personality qualities of the sample were found to include anxiety, proneness to domination, high mental control, radicalism, activity, and reactive balancing qualities; and the low-value personality qualities included the thinking pace. It was demonstrated that the collectivism (Q factor) and activity (H factor) meaningfully correlate with the age and weight class as the indirect competitive progress rates. The athletes were found to develop a need for group support and approval with age, and the less heavy athletes were found more active in sports and cooperation with the partners.

The prime personality anxiety factor O was found positively correlated with the individual ranking/ mastery and the secondary F1 factor with the competitive success rate in snatch events. The higher was the anxiety rate the higher was the competitive success rate and individual ranking in our study – conditional on the anxiety being well controlled by the volitional Q₃ factor.

The two-factor dispersion analysis showed no difference in the competitive success rates in snatch and clean-and-jerk, with the differences dictated only by the weight classes. Competitive success rates were found the highest in the middle weight class, lowest in the light weight class and interim in the heavyweight class.

References

1. Babayan A.A. Lichnostnye faktory psikhicheskoy gotovnosti sportsmena k dostizheniyu vysokogo sorevnovatelnogo rezultata: (Na primere tyazheloy atletiki) [Personal factors of athlete' mental fitness for high competitive performance (case study of weightlifting)]. PhD diss.. M., 1983. 223 p.
2. Babushkin G.D. Psikhologiya fizicheskoy kultury [Psychology of physical education]. Textbook. M.: Sport publ., 2016. 624 p.
3. Glass J., Stanley J. Statisticheskie metody v pedagogike i psikhologii [Statistical methods in education and psychology]. Transl. fr. Engl. L.I. Khayrusova. M.: Progress publ., 1976. pp. 305-405.
4. Gorbunov G.D. Psikhopedagogika sporta [Sport psychopedagogy]. M.: Sovetskiy sport publ., 2014. 320 p.
5. Dvorkin L.S. Podgotovka yunogo tyazheloatleta [Training in youth weightlifting]. https: //sport.wikireading.ru/3862.
6. Rodionov A.V. Psikhologiya fizicheskogo vospitaniya i sporta [Physical education and sport psychology]. M.: Akademicheskiy proekt; Mir publ., 2004. 576  p.

Corresponding author: aziza_z@mail.ru

Abstract

Every decision made by an athlete in competitions may have immense effects both for the individual success and the national team standing. A theoretical analysis of the available literature on the subject shows that the personality related issues versus the competitive progress rating studies are still very limited, mostly related to the men's sports or gender-unspecific. The study was designed to rate the personality qualities versus the competitive success rates in the elite women's weightlifting sport. Sampled for the study were elite female weightlifters (n=15) from the national team of Kazakhstan Republic, five of whom are ranked with the top-ten global leaders and the others ranked 20-30ies on the global ranking list. The high-value personality qualities of the sample were found to include anxiety, proneness to domination, high mental control, radicalism, activity, and reactive balancing qualities; and the low-value personality qualities included the thinking pace. It should be emphasized that the middle-weight class was found distinct from the light- and heavyweight classes in the core personality qualities – that may be explained by the higher competitive success rates of the middle-weight athletes.