PERSONALITY TRAITS, SOCIAL SUPPORT AND FITNESS BEHAVIOUR OF SENIOR NON TEACHING STAFF OF UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN

ABSTRACT

Lifestyle of every individual is susceptible to constant changes as a result of what we encounter during our lifetime with such changes also peculiar to Personality trait which is not also stable and changes much more quickly during childhood, which is often referred to as temperament in children. Temperament is regarded as the precursor to personality. Self-efficacy has been found to be related to the personality traits of extroversion and subjective well-being. There are well-documented researches which exist on personality trait, self efficacy and social support alone, however, no studies has examined the contribution of personality traits, social support and fitness behavior to lifestyle of less physically active individual. The primary purpose of this study is to examine personality traits, social support, fitness behaviour and lifestyle of Senior Non Teaching Staff members of University of Ibadan.

Two hundred and eighty-five (285) Senior Non Teaching Staff members of University of Ibadan with gender percentage of 82% and 18% for male and female while the religion percentage for the respondents was 50%, 48% and 2% representing Christianity, Islamic and traditional worshippers respectively with (Mean age = 39.67 ± 6.62 years) participated in this descriptive survey research study using a Multistage sampling procedure for selection of the respondents. Three (3) research hypotheses were tested and three (3) research questions were answered at 0.05 level of significance. A self developed questionnaire was used to collect data from each senior non teaching staff members. Data were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis. All participants responded to the questionnaire structured into two sections, Section A was on demographic data and section B was on variables of the study: I. Personality traits II. Social support III. Fitness behaviour. There was a significant relationship between gender and fitness behaviour among senior non teaching staff members of University of Ibadan (r = 0.440, p< 0.05) which signifies a relatively strong relationship between the two variables. Also, outcome of the study also shows that there was significant relationship between age of respondents and the fitness behaviour of non teaching staff members (r = 0.275**, p< 0.00). Furthermore result from this study shows that a significant relationship exist between personality trait and fitness behaviour of senior non teaching staff members of university of Ibadan (Mean score = 39.6 ± 10.5), significant level 0.076 which is > 0.05 accepted significant level. 

Staff members should be aware of the needs and importance of fitness in relation to their wellbeing in order to provide them with good health, active lifestyle and appealing posture that will allow them to continue to enjoy their body and health. The need for a move to understand the role of personality in physical activity promotion is also desperately needed. Organization employees and high-level administrators investigate the causes of exercise barriers to identify and resolve why administrative staff does not perform sufficient exercise. University management should instill employees with the habit of exercising, establish a culture of health promotion and increase interpersonal exchange among employees; 

Key words; Fitness behaviour, Personality traits, social support, locus of control 

Word count; 500