The Relationship between Personality and Achievement Variables in the Elementary School

Abstract

Scores on the following variables were obtained for 68 fifth-grade students: IQ (Otis Quick Scor ing Mental Abilities Test); school achievement (re port card grades); standardized test achievement (Stanford Achievement Test); personal and social adustment (California Test of Personality). Zero-order and partial correlations indicated, as predicted, that personality adjustment is more strongly related to teachers' grades than to stand ardized achievement scores. This suggests that personality factors may be related to scholastic achievement because teachers tend to assign grades on the basis of adjustment as well as accomplish ment, although other explanations are possible. The data also indicate that it is erroneous to as sume that personal adjustment and social adjust ment sections of the California Test of Personality are truly measuring different aspects of adjustment.