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Virginia Polytechnic Institute

A correlation of the possession of four personality traits in some nursery school children and their parents

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

This study sought to determine any possible relationships between the extent of development of each of four parental personality traits and the extent of development of the same trait in the parent's child., as well as possible interactions among the traits in the parent-child identification. In addition the investigation sought to determine whether the extent of development were related to (a) a same-sex parent-child identification, (b) an opposite-sex parent-child identification, (c) a mother-child identification, or (d) a father-child identification. The four traits were: achievement, aggression, autonomy, and nurturance. Subjects consisted of fifteen children, enrolled in the University Nursery School at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and their parents. The extent of parental development of the four traits was measured by the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. The extent of the development of children's traits was measured by (a) Virginia Polytechnic Institute students of child development who observed randomized groups composed of five children per group and ranked the fifteen children according to their composite impressions of each child's possession of each of the four traits. Results of rho computations indicated: (a) Opposite-sex children of aggressive parents tended to be non-aggressive. (b) Children of highly nurturant parents tended to be non-nurturant. (c) Children of highly autonomous fathers tended to lack the achievement motive. (d) Children of achieving parents of the same sex tended to possess the achievement motive.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Family Development
Department dc:contributor.department
Family Development
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
Year dc:date.issued
1965

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Henry, Margaret Isabelle

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright
Language dc:language.iso
en_US

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/10919/74601
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/74601

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Henry, Margaret Isabelle. A correlation of the possession of four personality traits in some nursery school children and their parents. masters thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1965. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/74601