Seminary Drop-Outs: A Study of Predictability

Abstract

Why do some students remain in seminary and others drop out? A study of 552 MDiv students at a mainline Protestant seminary from the years of 1973 to 1986 was performed to attempt to answer that question. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the Theological School Inventory (TSI) were used to differentiate between persisters and seminary leavers. Of students in an elevated MMPI group, 47% did not graduate from seminary, compared to 26% in a low MMPI group and 29% in a moderate MMPI group. A discriminant analysis was used with TSI scales and the MMPI score and 68% of the students were correctly classified as persisters or leavers. The MMPI score and the Definiteness and Flexibility scales of the TSI provided the strongest discrimination.

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