Own sense of athleticism linked to personality, family, prior experience, and feedback

In a new study of college undergraduates in Japan, the students’ self-perception of their own athletic ability was linked with several internal and external factors, such as personality traits, family characteristics, leisure activities, and others’ perceptions. Sho Ito of Nanzan University, Japan, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on May 28, 2025.

Self-perception of one’s own athletic ability could influence one’s motivation to engage in physical activity. For young people, the sense of one’s own athleticism may affect their participation in sports and other physical activities, which could, in turn, have implications for health and academic achievement.

However, while people often refer to others’ “athletic ability,” this term’s definition is vague. Furthermore, research on the underlying factors associated with self-perception of one’s own athletic ability has been limited. To help clarify, Ito and colleagues investigated self-perception of athletic ability among 406 undergraduate students, who each completed a questionnaire evaluating their sense of their own physical capability across 11 different sports disciplines, such as soccer, volleyball, and basketball. The students also completed assessments of personality, family background, and history of physical activity.

Statistical analysis of the responses revealed that students who perceived themselves as having higher overall athletic ability tended to also score higher for the personality traits of grit, resilience, and a growth mindset. These students were also more likely to be youngest siblings, to be frequently called “athletic” by others, to have first walked at an earlier age, and to have more prior sports experience, athletic parents, and a higher parental household income. Meanwhile, they were less likely to engage in certain leisure activities, such as games and music.

These findings could help lead to a deeper understanding of factors influencing athletic ability, which could also help establish a more precise definition of the term. However, this study does not confirm any cause-effect relationships, and the authors note that additional research is needed to clarify how the factors identified in this study are related to development of self-perception of athletic ability.

The authors add: “Our study shows that subjective perceptions of athletic ability are shaped not only by personality traits and sports experience, but also by early childhood environments and family background. We were particularly surprised to find that the youngest siblings reported higher perceived athletic ability—perhaps because they often imitate older siblings.”

In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One: https://plos.io/3GTRrF7

Citation: Ito S, Soga K, Kato K (2025) Determinants of subjective total athletic ability. PLoS One 20(5): e0324044. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0324044

Author countries: Japan

Funding: We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Nanzan University Pache Research Subsidy I-A-2 for the 2024 academic year and JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP23K10623 for funding this research. 1 Initials of the authors who received each award; Kouki Kato Grant numbers awarded to each author ; JP23K10623 The full name of each funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science URL of each funder website; https://www.jsps.go.jp/j-grantsinaid/ 2 Initials of the authors who received each award; Kouki Kato Grant numbers awarded to each author ; Nanzan University Pache Research Subsidy I-A-2 for the 2024 academic year The full name of each funder: Nanzan University URL of each funder website; https://www.nanzan-u.ac.jp/