Abstract
Highly self-complex people have many self-aspects which are mostly independent of each other. The degree of self-complexity is based on experience (Linville, 1987). Aspects and activities, which are in the center of our attention, are relevant to our self-perception. For top athletes sport has a high relevance, also in terms of the time they spend for training etc.. Relatively older people should mention more self-aspects, and top athlete should possess less self-aspects.
Soccer player (Mage=17.66) in four age-groups (sample A: N=76) and in six soccer leagues (sample B: N=78) were examined. To asses self-complexity a modified version of Linville's Trait Sorting Task (1987) was adopted. Additionally athlete identity, trainings hours and leisure time activity was measured.
The athlete identity decreases with increasing age (p<.01, ?²=.19) and increases with increasing performance level (p<.01, ?²=.38). The number of self-aspects increases with increasing age (p<.01, ?²=.27) and decreases with increasing performance level (p<.01, ?²=.27). The correlation of number of aspects and athlete identity is low (rA= -.228, p<.01, rB = -.027, p >.10). No significant differences can be shown for the Overlap.
The results show the dynamic of self-complexity and its dependence on age and performance, which can be interpreted as a result of specialisation and experience. Self-complexity is next to athlete identity a further criterion to understand the personal development of athletes.
