Investigation of Soccer Referees’ Personality Profiles According to Their Career Positions

Year 2021, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, 135 - 145, 30.04.2021

Gamze Üngür

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine personality profile differences of soccer referees in relation to career
positions. In the first study to explore personal and social adjustment characteristics of soccer referees, the
Hacettepe Personality Inventory and a personal data collection form were administrated to 190 male soccer
officials in Turkey. The overall personal adjustment and social adjustment scores were significantly higher for
referees than assistant referees. More specifically, scores for referees were significantly higher than assistant
referees for personal adjustment subscales of self-actualization and neurotic tendencies and for social adjustment
subscales of family relationship. These results indicate that personality characteristics play an important role in
referees’ career development, leading referees with different personality profiles to take up different career
positions. Personality tests combined with other evaluation tools may assist in identifying promising referee
profiles that can aid in career development.

Keywords

Personal Growth, Personal Adjjustment and Social Adjustment, Classification

References

• Aragão, J., Passos, A., Araújo, D., and Maynard, M. T. (2018). Football refereeing: An integrative review. Psychology of Sport & Exercise, 35(November 2017), 10–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2017.10.006.
• Austin, E. J., Deary, I. J., Whiteman, M. C., Fowkes, F. G. R., Pedersen, N. L., Rabbitt, P., … McInnes, L. (2002). Relationships between ability and personality: Does intelligence contribute positively to personal and social adjustment? Personality and Individual Differences, 32(8), 1391–1411. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00129-5.
• Balch, M. J., and Scott, D. (2007). Contrary to Popular Belief , Refs are people too ! Personality and perceptions of officials. Journal of Sport Behavior, 30(1), 3–20.
• Caballero, Jose Antonio Ruiz; Ojeda, Estrella Brito; García-Aranda, José María; Mallo, Javier; Helsen, Werner; Sarmiento, Samuel; Valdivielso, Manuel Navarro; GarcíaManso, J. M. (2011). Physiological profile of national-level Spanish soccer referees. International SportMed Journal, 12(2), 85–91.
• Cengiz, R., Pulur, A., and Cengiz, Ş. (2008). Investigation of football referees’ agression types according to their classification levels. Niğde Üniversitesi Beden Eğitimi ve Spor Bilimleri Dergisi, 2(2), 78–88.
• Ceyhan, E. (1999). The study of the personal and social adjustment levels of the school counselors with different levels of job difficulties. Turkish Psychological Counseling and Guidance Journal, 11(13), 45–55.
• Çoban, B. (2010). An evaluation of the job satisfaction levels of turkish provincial football referees. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 38(9), 1153–1165. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2010.38.9.1153.
• Dereceli, Ç., Ünlü, H., and Erbaş, M. K. (2019). Investigation of self-efficacy levels of football referees. Sakarya University Journal of Education, 9(1), 69–82. https://doi.org/10.19126/suje.455536.
• Duman, S., and Kuru, E. (2010). The Cooperation and Determination of personal integration levels of turkish students according to their sports participatiopn level. Nigde University Journal of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, 4(1), 18–26.
• Erdoğdu, M. Y. (2013). Investigating the prospective teachers’ level of adjustment in terms of perceived identity, values, and needs. US-China Education Review, 3(5), 283–295.
• Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS (3rd edition). London:Sage Publications. Gelissen, J., and de Graaf, P. M. (2006). Personality, social background, and occupational career success. Social Science Research, 35(3), 702–726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2005.06.005
• Gencay, S. (2009). Magnitude of psychological stress reported by soccer referees. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 37(7), 865–868. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2009.37.7.865.
• Gregory, S. V., and Choudhary, S. R. (2018). A critical study of adjustment ability of football referees officiating at different levels. Aayushi International Interdisciplinary Research Journal (AIIRJ) UGC Approved Sr.No, 64259(64259), 246–249. Retrieved from www.aiirjournal.com.
• Güçlü, M., and Yentür, J. (2008). The definition of the relationship between elite national female athletes’s personality characteristics and body perception levels. Spormetre, 4, 183–192.
• Guillén, F., and Feltz, D. L. (2011). A conceptual model of referee efficacy. Frontiers in Psychology, 2 (February), 25. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00025.
• Hancock, D. J., Dawson, D. J., and Auger, D. (2015). Why Ref? Understanding sport officials’ motivations to begin, continue, and quit. Movement and Sports Sciences - Science et Motricite, (87), 31–39. https://doi.org/10.1051/sm/2014018.
• Herken, H., Bodur, S., and Kara, F. (1998). Assessment of the relationship between personality and psychiatric symptoms and substance abuse in the female university students. VII. Ulusal Egitim Bilimleri Kongresi, 40–45.
• Jackson, C. J., and Corr, P. J. (1998). Personality-performance correlations at work: Individual and aggregate levels of analyses. Personality and Individual Differences, 24(6), 815–820. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00011-7.
• Jiří, V., and Tomaš, Z. (2013). Relationship between psychological factors of personality and performance of football referee. Science, Movement and Health, 13(2), 788–794.
• Johansen, B. T., Ommundsen, Y., and Haugen, T. (2018). Referee efficacy in the context of Norwegian soccer referees – A meaningful construct? Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 38(4604), 184–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2018.06.013
• Jones, M. V, Paull, G. C., and Erskine, J. (2002). The impact of a team’s aggressive reputation on the decisions of association football referees. Journal of Sports Sciences, 20(12), 991–1000. https://doi.org/10.1080/026404102321011751.
• Kahn, J. H., Nauta, M. M., Galbreath, D. R., Tipps, J., and Chartrand, J. M. (2002). The utility of career and personality assessment in predicting academic progress. In Journal of Career Assessment (Vol. 10). https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072702010001003.
• Karagözoğlu, C. (2013). The perceived wellness profile of turkish football referees. International Journal of Academic Research, 5(4), 272–275. https://doi.org/10.7813/2075-4124.2013.
• Lane, A. M., Nevill, A. M., Ahmad, N. S., and Balmer, N. (2006). Soccer referee decisionmaking: “shall i blow the whistle?”. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 5(2), 243– 253. Retrieved from http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3827566&tool=pmcentrez&r endertype=abstract.
• Lau, V. P., and Shaffer, M. A. (1999). Career success : the effects of personality. Career Development International, 4(4), 225–230.
• Mascarenhas, D. R. D., Collins, D., and Mortimer, P. (2005). Elite refereeing performance: developing a model for sport science support. The Sport Psychologist, 9, 364–379.
• Ng, T. W. H., and Feldman, D. C. (2013). How do within-person changes due to aging affect job performance? Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83(3), 500–513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2013.07.007.
• Özgüven, İ. E. (1992). HKE Hacettepe Kişilik Envanteri El Kitabi. Ankara: Odak ofset publishing.
• Pietraszewski, P., Maszczyk, A., Roczniok, R., Gołaś, A., and Stanula, A. (2014). Differentiation of perceptual processes in elite and assistant soccer referees. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 117, 469–474. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.247.
• Reilly, T., and Gregson, W. (2006). Special populations: the referee and assistant referee. Journal of Sports Sciences, 24(7), 795–801. https://doi.org/10.1080/02640410500483089.
• Seibert, S. E., and Kraimer, M. L. (2001). The five-factor model of personality and career success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.2000.1757.
• Slack, L. a., Maynard, I. W., Butt, J., and Olusoga, P. (2013). Factors underpinning football officiating excellence: perceptions of english premier league referees. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 25(3), 298–315. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2012.726935.
• Stulp, G., Buunk, A. P., Verhulst, S., and Pollet, S. V. (2012). High and mighty: height increases authority in professional refereeing. Evoliutonary Psychology, 10(3), 588–601.
• Uher, J. (2008). Three methodological core issues of comparative personality research. European Journal of Personality, 22, 475–496. https://doi.org/10.1002/per. Ullrich, S., Farrington, D. P., and Coid, J. W. (2008). Psychopathic personality traits and lifesuccess. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(5), 1162–1171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.11.008.
• Viviescas, B. B. J., Luna, L. A. D., Mindiola, A. A. A., Acuña, L. E. R., Novoa, J. A. O., and Zapata, R. E. L. (2018). Validation and reliability of the temperament questionnaire in soccer referee of north of Santander. International Journal of Social Sciences of Physical Activity, Game and Sport, 14(7), xx.
• Wu, P.-C., Foo, M.-D., and Turban, D. B. (2008). The role of personality in relationship closeness, developer assistance, and career success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73(3), 440–448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2008.08.005.