Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Publication Date

11-3-1971

Abstract

From the theoretical and research literature on personality, interaction and teacher characteristics, a general hypothesis was formulated:

Personality maladjustment of a teacher generates personality maladjustment in the pupils in that teacher's classroom resulting in the pupils' failure to incorporate appropriate information and the maintenance of a state of high anxiety.

Reformulated operationally the hypothesis became: Personality maladjustment of a teacher, as measured by the MMPI, results in the maintenance of high levels of anxiety, as measured by the Sarason anxiety scales, in the pupils of that teacher's classroom.

Forty teachers responded to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and were scored on nineteen scales. The pupils in their classrooms were administered the General Anxiety Scale for Children and the Test Anxiety Scale for Children the first week of the school year and again the first week of December. The mean anxiety on these measures became the teachers criterion scores.

Scoring protocols for each of the MMPI scales were derived that appeared to relate personality to the production of anxiety in the classroom. The analysis of the data revealed that the multi-flagged system of categorizing teachers was highly successful in differentiating between low and high anxiety producing teachers. The significance levels of the critical analyses ranged from .05 through .001. The categorization system was shown to be 92.5% effective.

It was suggested that the multi-flagged system be applied to the screening of teachers and teacher candidates. Individuals scoring positively on this system should probably be counseled in an effort to achieve a more satisfactory personality adjustment before they are allowed to teach. This system also raises the possibility of providing a basis for eliminating from the profession certain individuals who will most likely generate high levels of anxiety in the children they teach.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Educational Leadership

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy

First Committee Member (Chair)

Richard Lee Holemon

Second Committee Member

Martin Burlingame

Third Committee Member

James Gordon Cooper

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