Adolescent Personality and Behavior

Adolescent Personality and Behavior was first published in 1963. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.What kinds of boys and girls are likely to become delinquent? Can they be identified before they get into trouble so that steps may be taken to prevent their delinquency (if prevention is possible)? What about school “dropouts” – are they distinguishable from other youngsters before they leave school? What are the characteristics of a normal adolescent? Questions like these, far-reaching, complex, and profoundly important in the face of increasing concern about the problems of adolescence, are dealt with in the comprehensive study reported in this book.Professors Hathaway and Monachesi have studied the personality and behavior of approximately 15,000 young people in an effort to determine whether it is possible to predict subsequent development of desirable or undesirable behavior. The subjects of the study were ninth-grade youngsters, at the outset, and their later careers were followed for a period of four to six years. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a psychometric test, was administered to the boys and girls when they were in the ninth grade. The MMPI findings are correlated with a wealth of other data – personality evaluations by teachers and others, police records, family socioeconomic status, school achievement, type of residence community, and other factors – to provide a large-scale picture of adolescent personality and behavior. Details of the study – its plan and execution – are given, along with a general description of the MMPI, its use, and interpretation.