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ERIC Number: ED201269
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1981-Apr
Pages: 31
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Persistence of College Related Changes in Personality Functioning Ten Years After Graduation.
Kuh, George D.
The extent to which college-related changes in personality functioning persisted between college graduation and 10 years later was studied, and developmental patterns common to 18- and 32-year-old college-educated persons were identified. The relationship between various demographic characteristics linked either empirically or theoretically to personality development in the young adult years was also addressed. An Alumni Questionnaire (AQ) and the Omnibus Personality Inventory (OPI) were administered to a sample of 1970 graduates of Luther College. The 200 respondents had completed the OPI prior to the freshman year and in the senior year. The findings seemed to indicate that many of the changes in personality functioning associated with college tend to backslide 10 years after graduation, and that the developmental patterns of young adults differ appreciably. The results indicate that not all of the respondents evidenced increases of those dimensions on which development is expected to occur during college (e.g., aestheticism, integrative maturity). The degree to which college-related changes in personality functioning are maintained seem to be related to the post-college environment. Respondents who were working in the professions were less likely to backslide following graduation. The differences among respondents' patterns of personality functioning during and after college were not easily explained by biographical variables. The results support the premise that development occurs in various dimensions at differential rates over the life span. (SW)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A