The relationship of aerobic physical fitness to selected personality traits measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Abstract

The first purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between physical fitness as measured by aerobic capacity and selected personality traits as measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The second purpose of the study was to determine if changes in physical fitness of college males is significantly related to changes in personality traits as measured by the aerobic capacity and the MMPI. The sample consisted of 65 male students enrolled in the physical education classes at Texas A&M University. The classes participated in an aerobic fitness program for the Spring semester, 1974. The A8trand-Rhyming test, the 12-minute run, and selected anthropometric variables were used as pre- and post-tests to measure aerobic capacity. The MMPI was used as a pre- and post-test to measure personality. The five fitness variables and 16 personality variables were derived from the testing procedures. In the first phase of this study, each subject was administered the MMPI and the aerobic physical fitness test. The scores on the pre-aerobic tests were correlated with the pre-scores on the MMPI. Pearson's product-moment correlation procedure was used to correlate the aerobic fitness scores to each MMPI scale for the first phase of the study. Pearson's product-moment correlation procedure was used to correlate the changes in the aerobic fitness scores to changes in each MMPI scale for the second phase of the study. From the results of this study, it appears that aerobic fitness is positively correlated with the more favorable scales on the MMPI (K and Es scales) and negatively correlated with the less favorable scales on the MMPI (F, l(Hs), 2(D), 3(Hy), 6(Pa), 7(Pt), 8(Sc), 0(Si), and A scales). Aerobic fitness is also negatively correlated with the 5(Mf) scale. Investigation of the gain scores on aerobic fitness and scales on the MMPI reveals that subjects who initially scored highest on the aerobic test also gained the most psychologically, but the least physically. Conversely, the subjects who scored the lowest on the aerobic tests gained the least psychologically, but the most physically.