Ability and Personality Correlates of Children's Attitudes and Aspirations

Abstract

This study examined to what extent personality types are related to children's attitudes and aspirations after taking into account relationships between ability and the attitude and aspiration measures. Data were collected from 500 12-yr.-old Australian children. In the analysis the children were classified into four personality groups who were labeled as extravert-adjusted, extravert-anxious, introvert-adjusted, and introvert-anxious. The findings suggest the general proposition that children's personality types have strong associations with school-related attitudes after taking into account associations between children's intellectual ability and their attitudes. In contrast, children's personalities tended not to be related to measures of educational and occupational aspirations.