Problem Statement and Approach: Although balance skills and personality have been explored in the field of sports science, little is known about the relationship between the two factors. This study aims to investigate the association of postural balance with traits of personality and temperament. Materials and Methods: There were 73 participants in the cross-sectional study between ages 16 and 30 years (M = 21.29, SD = 2.47), and 59% were men. Three samples of participants consisted of Elite Athletes (EA, n = 17, 23.29%) in track and field from the Polish National Team, Football Players (FP, n = 32, 43.84%), and the Control Sample (CS, n = 24, 32.88%). Postural control was assessed on a force platform with a sampling frequency of 100 Hz, whereas personality and temperament were measured using the NEO-FFI and FCB-TI. Results: The EA and CS groups were more stable in the medial-lateral (ML) direction than in the FP group. In the anterior-posterior (AP) direction, the athletes from the EA group were more stable than the CS group. Openness to experience and emotional reactivity were associated with centre of pressure (COP) parameters. Discussion: The results of this study showed that EA and CS showed better stability than footballers in both the ML and AP directions. This study indicates that emotional reactivity as a temperamental trait is associated with postural stability. Among the big five traits of personality, openness solely was found to be related to postural balance skills. Openness is strongly linked with intelligence, which is determined by the efficiency and reliability of the central nervous system and the speed of a neural impulse. Additionally, plasticity as a trait includes openness and extraversion (low emotional reactivity) and may explain the relationship of both personality and temperament traits with balance skills. Conclusions: Openness to experience and emotional reactivity can be explained by postural balance skills. Further research should examine the association of balance skills with plasticity and intelligence. The present research may provide useful clues for sport selection and rehabilitation of sport injuries. Development of openness should be supported in team and individual sports that require excellent balance skills, such as track and field, artistic gymnastics, ice skating, and sky jumping.
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