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Sex differences, personality and study difficulty in university students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Peter Stringer ,
Sidney Crown ,
C. J. Lucas  and
S. Supramaniam
Peter Stringer
Affiliation:
University of Surrey
Sidney Crown
Affiliation:
The London Hospital
C. J. Lucas
Affiliation:
University College London
S. Supramaniam
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

A study difficulty inventory and three sets of personality scales were administered to 145 students attending a university health centre. Motivational and psychoneurotic components of study difficulty were identified, which were differentially related in male and female students to basic personality characteristics and to psychiatric symptomatology. Syllabus-boundness emerged as more salient in the female students, and self-esteem in the males. Poor academic performance was found to be associated with distinctive personality profiles in the two sexes. Both intra-personality and social–psychological interactional factors appear to underlie the pattern of results.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 10 , Issue 3 , July 1978 , pp. 221 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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