Authors submitted their contribution of the article to the editorial board. Accepted for pinting in Journal of Human Kinetics vol. 25/2010 on March 2010. Journal of Human Kinetics volume 25 2010, 109‐115 Section III – Sport, Physical Education & Recreation 109 Sport, Physical Education & Recreation Assessment of Demographic and Personality Characteristics of Elite Dancers in Turkey by Leyla Tavacioglu 1 , Kaan Kora 2 , Erkut Oya Atilgan 3 , Canan Savran 4 In this study, a descriptive method was used in order to assess the demographic and personality char- acteristics of athletes in dancing sports. Data collected with ACL scale were evaluated with a computer programme and subscale scores were obtained. Five subscale categories which have the highest mean scores among all, were decided as typical characteristics of the athletes. The distributions of subscale scores according to demographic variables were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test, and Pearson correlation test. In all analysis, results were tested two-sided and level of significance was accepted as 0.05. Preponderance over others, decisiveness, high self-esteem, masculine behavior were found significantly higher in younger athletes compared to old ones. On the other hand, acceptance of psychological consul- tation was found to be significantly higher among old athletes. Keywords: dancers, personality, demographic characteristics 1 - Istanbul Technical University, , Department of Maritime Transportation and Management Engineering, Istanbul, Turkey 2 - Marmara University, Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Istanbul, Turkey 3 - Marmara University, Physical Education and Sport College, Istanbul, Turkey 4 - Marmara University, Faculty of Instruction, Istanbul, Turkey Introduction Kluchohn and Murray noted that each person is like all other people, that each person is like some other people, and that each person is like no other person. What may be understood from this observa‐ tion is that each person possesses universal compo‐ nents of structure and function; that each person has commonalities with particular subgroups, but not others; and that there are idiographic and individual differences in each person (Murray 1953). This work is concerned primarily with the personality differ‐ ences among dancers. Therefore, it is necessary to define the concept of “personality” and place it within the given context. The word personality de‐ rives from the Latin word “persona” that means “mask.” The study of personality can be understood as the study of “masks” that people wear. However, there is no consensus among scholars as to what ex‐ actly the concept should include. This may be due to the fact that people in general and behavioral sci‐ ences define personality from different perspectives Luthans 1992 (Luthans 1992). In 1953, Guilford de‐ fined personality as the “interactive aggregate of personal characteristics that influence the individ‐ ual’s response to the environment.”(Guilford 1953). This interpretation of the word is also in line with Gordon W. Allport’s definition of personality as “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.”(Giritli 2008, All‐