Perfil de personalidad de los árbitros de baloncesto españoles en comparación con la población general

Abstract

Despite the importance of the referee, officiating is one of the issues to which Sports Psychology has paid less attention. The purpose of this study was to find out if there is a differential personality profile of the Spanish basketball referees compared with that of the general population, as several studies in other cultures have shown. Our study focuses on a representative sample that included all the categories and ages of the Spanish basketball officiating, from the base to the elite. The NEO PI-R was administered to 368 Spanish male basketball referees in all categories. A differential personality profile was found between the referees and the general population. The referees scored higher on Neuroticism, and lower on Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. They were also found statistical significant differences on 22 out of the 30 facets evaluated. The results of this study suggest that the implementation of psychological skills training could help the referees to exhibit adequate behaviours while officiating which are not currently found in their repertoire of competences.