A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF TEACHER-RATED BEHAVIORAL SUBTYPES AND SELF-REFERENCED PERSONALITY PATTERNS OF ADOLESCENTS WITH SCHOOL-VERIFIED LEARNING DISABILITIES
Abstract
There exists a need to study Learning Disabled adolescents who differ in terms of their behavior and personality functioning. By identifying various personality subtypes by behavioral ratings, educators may increase understanding of adaptive learning styles and improve specificity in intervention strategies. There also exists a paucity of research on female LD adolescents. Consequently, this segment of the LD population has not been well characterized. Eighty LD adolescents, in grades 9 through 12, from four Milwaukee area suburban public and parochial schools participated in this investigation. The subjects were between 15.1 and 20.8 years of age. The mean subject age was 17.6 years. The classification of each student into one of the diagnostic groupings of Personality Problem Behavior (PPB) and Non-Problem Behavior (NPB) was accomplished through teacher response on the Quay and Peterson (1983) Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (RBPC). Subjects were assigned consecutively to one of four treatment cells differentiated by sex (male or female) and subtype (PPB or NPB). Subsequently, each student completed two self-reference personality inventories which were administered in a group format and read aloud by the investigator. Four dependent variables were chosen for study. Three scales were selected from the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), interpersonal functioning (Dominance scale), intrapersonal functioning (Good Impression scale), and achievement motivation (Intellectual Efficiency scale). The fourth dependent variable, the Self-Concept scale on the Piers-Harris, provided a separate measure of self esteem. Results of the 2 x 2 MANOVA showed that statistically significant differences were not found for subject grouping, sexual composition, or grouping by sex interaction. Therefore, the null hypotheses are tenable as given. Further empirical evidence is needed for accurate classification of subtypes and to identify personality variables characteristic of the adolescent LD population. Additional combinations of personality variables, for example, Achievement via Conformance (Ac) and Achievement via Independence (Ai), scales on the CPI, could provide greater insight into how personality functioning affects learning.
This paper has been withdrawn.