The aim of this research was to examine the contribution of features of the five-factor model of personality and the model of right-wing authoritarianism in junior volleyball players and their parents to the prediction of the variance of social distance towards Roma. The pertinent sample of participants consisted of (N = 120) adolescent athletes from the Kolubar district (M age = 14.90, SD = 0.68 years), as well as one parent of each volleyball player (age 37 years ± 4.78). The following measuring instruments were applied: A social distance scale, Big Five Inventory – BFI, and Right-Wing Authoritarianism – RWA scale. The findings of the hierarchical regression analysis, with a statistically significant 21% variance, showed that the authoritarianism of volleyball players is a dominant significant positive predictor (β = 0.24, p ≤ 0.01) of the criteria of parental social distance. This suggests that as the dimension of authoritarianism increases, individuals report greater social distance. Also, the personality trait extraversion of the five-factor personality model, with 29% of the variability, proved to be a relevant negative partial predictor (β = -0.29, p ≤ 0.01), which signals that young athlete with a pronounced lower score on the variable extraversion express worse social distance, that is, they more often see it as a loss. The interaction function of personality traits – the Big Five (extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and agreeableness) is not statistically significant in the prediction of the construct parental social distance and the construct child’s social distance, and therefore requires further studies. The results of internal consistency indicate that the used measuring instruments are adequate for future research on the Serbian sample of athletes in adolescence. Finally, methodological limitations in this empirical study are given, its theoretical and practical implications are analyzed, as well as guidelines for further and relational research.
Keywords: young athletes, Roma, dimensions of personality, extraversion, authoritarianism, right-wing authoritarianism, social distance
