Date of Award

1982

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish criterion validity for the Preschool Personality Questionnaire (PSPQ). The PSPQ is a 200-item forced choice, self report inventory for four- through six-year-olds. One hundred and sixty of the items are scored on 14 factor analytically derived scales. The PSPQ is a downward extension of the Cattell-IPAT personality questionnaires. For the study, the PSPQ was administered to 107 children, and predictions of their responses were made by their parents and teachers. The proportion of agreement between parents and children on the individual items was calculated, and compared with the proportion of agreement between randomly matched sets of parents and children. Also, the proportion of agreement between teachers and children, and between parents and children, on special sets of observable items was calculated. In addition correlations between parents and children on the factors were obtained. Finally, an ANOVA was performed to determine if factor scores differed for boys and girls, and if the sex of the test administrator influenced the scores on the factor scales. The results indicated that while parents and teachers had roughly similar ideas about how their children would respond, the children did not in fact, respond as expected. Only one of the scales, based on a masculinity/femininity factor, received substantial support. It was determined that boys and girls scored differently on certain factors, and that the sex of the test administrator was an important consideration. Implications of the findings were discussed.

Pages

71

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.3710

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