Comparison of the Characteristics of the Five Major Personality Factors in Bodybuilding and Fitness Athletes with and without Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids

The use of anabolic steroids is increasing in athletes due to body beauty and performance enhancement and is one of the major public health problems. The aim of study was to compare the characteristics of five major personality factors in male bodybuilding and fitness athletes with and without the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids.
The research was practical in terms of purpose and in terms of strategy, it is a descriptive causal-comparative description. The statistical population of the present study included all male bodybuilding and fitness athletes in Yazd province. 105 athletes (50 with a history of use and 55 with no history of steroid use) with an age range of 18 to 48 years and at least two years of sports experience were selected as availabe. The instrument used was the personality questionnaire NEO-FFI. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and independent t-test were used for statistical analysis.
 The results showed athletes who use steroids have a higher score in the dimension of neuroticism and a lower score in the dimensions of extraversion, openness, adaptation and conscientiousness score than athletes who didnot use steroids. The results showed significant differences in the components of neuroticism (P=0/013), extraversion (P=0/02), adaptation (P=0/04) and conscientiousness (P=0/01). however, the difference between the components of openness to experience was not significant (P=0/26).
 The results showed that there is a significant difference between bodybuilding and fitness athletes with and without the use of anabolic steroids in the personality dimensions of neuroticism, extroversion, adaptability and conscientiousness.