Examined whether personality is related to attitudes toward older people in 228 college students, 78 of whom were working with older people in professional capacities. Results indicated a constellation of personality traits was related to attitudes toward older people, including low anxiety traits, sensitive-intuition traits, and intellectual…

"Presidentialese" is a curious dialect of higher education jargon. A humorous description of the language of higher education, as it pertains to college presidents and their ability to circumvent the truth, is presented. (MLW)

Assessed possible generational differences in student personality traits and values by analyzing four samples of college freshmen (N=317) who had completed the Omnibus Personality Inventory at intervals spanning 1969 through 1987. Found a linear increase in impulsivity during that period was the strongest of the observed shifts. (Author/ABL)

Examined relationship between sensation seeking and field independence using three indices of field independence and combining the data in an Overall Index. The three field independence instruments and the Sensation Seeking Scale were administered to 103 college students. Positive relationship between sensation seeking and field independence was…

Investigated relationship between problem-solving appraisal and state-trait personality variables. Undergraduate students (N=73) completed Problem Solving Inventory of Heppner and Petersen and Spielberger's State-Trait Personality Inventory. Found significant relationships between problem-solving appraisal and state-trait factors of anxiety,…

Administered University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness Scale, Freiburg Personality Inventory, and other questions to 247 West German college students. Loneliness was found to be correlated with several personality subscales (psychosomatic complaints, depression, and neuroticism; negative correlation with social skills, self-esteem,…

Finds that Humor Orientation (HO) was positively correlated with communication traits of communicator adaptability, concern for eliciting positive impressions, affective orientation, and situational sense of humor. Finds that high HOs were perceived to be funnier than low HOs both by participant-observers and by independent coders who listened to…

Sexual stereotyping, directed at those from "other" backgrounds, has a long and involved history. On campuses, this takes the form of campus personality types. Increasing cultural pluralism has caused reappearance of some archaic stereotypes and sexual tensions. This situation is a legitimate subject for study and discussion on campus. (MSE)

Assessed differential predictive utility of home-leaving status, family functioning, separation-individuation issues, cognitive constructions of home-leaving process, and personality variables for adjustment during first year of college. Findings from 286 first-year students revealed that separation-individuation, family relations, and personality…

Nineteen head/heart traits derived from Maccoby's business ethics work were rated on importance to future careers by 148 marketing and 178 accounting students. Both groups rated head traits as most important. Marketing majors are not as "games" oriented as social stereotypes would indicate. The apparent imbalance between head and heart traits…

Conducted study to validate characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs) as presented by Woititz (1983). Findings from college students self-reported to be ACOAs, non-ACOAs, or individuals who had participated in ACOA treatment group were compared on 12 of Woititz's 13 characteristics using objective personality measures. No significant…

Examined hypothesis that introversion in general and introverted-intuitive-feeling-perceiving type as measured by Myers-Briggs Type Indicator are related to suicidal ideation/behaviors. Data from 330 college students revealed 4 interactive suicidal behavior risk models: introverted-perceiving (females); introverted-sensing-feeling (males);…

College students (390) completed scales assessing 10 dimensions of vocational indecision and 9 personality constructs. Cluster-analytic procedures revealed four-cluster solution, with clusters being differentiated on basis of vocational decidedness and personal concern over stage of career decision making. Resulting cluster solution was…

Characteristics of six different indicators of response distortion on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) (L. Morey, 1991) were evaluated by having 134 college students complete the PAI under positive impression management, malingering, and honest responding conditions. All six indicators could distinguish actual and feigned responses. (SLD)

This study examined the relationship among giftedness, gender, and over excitability in 562 university students. Gifted students scored significantly higher on intellectual and emotional over excitability than comparison students. Also, males scored higher on intellectual, imaginational, and psychomotor over excitability, while females scored…