Measuring personality traits in the classroom

Abstract

In this article, a personality model for the description of children's classroom behaviour is the main focus of interest. It is questioned whether the Five-Factor Personality Model can be used as an organizational structure for the description of personality characteristics in the field of educational practice. Two groups of Dutch school children (N = 1296 and N = 367), 4-12 years old, were rated by their teachers on scales of the School Behaviour Checklist-Revised (SCHOBL-R1). Analysis of the scales produced four meaningful and identical components in both samples: Extraversion, Attitude towards School Work, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability. The factorial structure of the scales remained stable over age as well as sex. Boys and girls were rated by their teachers as having different attitudes towards school work, and as differing on emotional stability and agreeableness. The items of the school behaviour checklist were then analysed in the context of other personality scales, leading to the conclusion that the four scales of the SCHOBL-R can be interpreted in terms of four of the five personality dimensions of the Five-Factor Model. The strong relationship between the contents of the different scales used in this analysis supports the idea that the Five (Four) Factor Model is a valid model for the description of individual differences in Dutch school children. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.