The validity of physical aggression in predicting adolescent academic performance.

BACKGROUND: Aggression has a long history in academic research as both a criterion and a predictor variable and it is well documented that aggression is related to a variety of poor academic outcomes such as: lowered academic performance, absenteeism and lower graduation rates. However, recent research has implicated physical aggression as being predictive of lower academic performance. AIMS: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the 'Big Five' personality traits of agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion and physical aggression in predicting the grade point averages (GPA) of adolescent students and to investigate whether or not there were differences in these relationships between male and female students. SAMPLE: A sample of 992 students in grades 9 to 12 from a high school in south-eastern USA as part of a larger study examining the students' preparation for entry into the workforce. METHOD: The study was correlational in nature: students completed a personality inventory developed by the second author with the GPA information supplied by the school. RESULTS: Results indicated that physical aggression accounts for 16% of variance in GPA and it adds 7% to the prediction of GPA beyond the Big Five. The Big Five traits added only 1.5% to the prediction of GPA after controlling for physical aggression. Interestingly, a significantly larger amount of variance in GPA was predicted by physical aggression for females than for males. CONCLUSIONS: Aggression accounts for significantly more variance in the GPA of females than for males, even when controlling for the Big Five personality factors. Future research should examine the differences in the expression of aggression in males and females, as well as how this is affecting interactions between peers and between students and their teachers.

Key personality traits of sales managers.

BACKGROUND: Sales managers are crucial for producing positive sales outcomes for companies. However, there has been a relative dearth of scholarly investigations into the personal attributes of sales managers. Such information could prove important in the recruitment, selection, training needs identification, career planning, counseling, and development of sales managers. OBJECTIVE: Drawing on Holland's vocational theory, we sought to identify key personality traits that distinguish sales managers from other occupations and are related to their career satisfaction. PARTICIPANTS: The main sample was comprised of a total of 978 sales managers employed in a large number of companies across the United States (along with a comparison sample drawn from 79,512 individuals from other professional occupations). METHODS: Participants completed an online version of Resource Associates' Personal Style Inventory as well a measure of career satisfaction. RESULTS: Our sample of 978 sales managers had higher levels of Assertiveness, Customer Service Orientation, Extraversion, Image Management, Optimism, and Visionary Style; and lower levels of Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Intrinsic Motivation, Openness, and Tough-Mindedness than a sample of 79,512 individuals in a variety of other occupations. Nine of these traits were significantly correlated with sales managers' career satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, a psychological profile of sales managers was presented as were implications for their recruitment, selection, training, development, and mentoring.

Personality correlates of self-employed small business owners' success.

OBJECTIVE: Drawing on prior occupational choice research on entrepreneurs and self-employed business owners, we examined personality predictors of their occupational business success and work satisfaction. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURES: A sample of 147 small business owners completed a web-based assessment of 14 work-related personality traits--adaptability, autonomy, competitiveness, dependability, emotional resilience, goal-setting, optimism, persistence, risk tolerance, self-promotion, networking, and tolerance for financial insecurity, work-based locus of control, and work drive--and three self-reported indices of business success--revenue growth, profit growth, and income growth--as well as multiple facets of individual satisfaction. Criterion variables included composite business success and overall satisfaction. RESULTS: Ten traits correlated with business success. The top four personality predictors of success--goal-setting, social networking, emotional resilience, and work drive--together accounted for 16% of the variance. Similarly, 12 of 14 personality traits were positively related to overall satisfaction. The top three personality predictors of satisfaction--optimism, work-based locus of control, and work drive--accounted for 29% of the variability in satisfaction. An expectancy analysis revealed that the percent of participants who reported at least a 20% increase in sales and profits the preceding year was 26% versus 54% for individual scoring in the lower and upper third of a personality composite measure. CONCLUSIONS: Results carry implications for future research, and have direct, practical applications for prospective and current entrepreneurs and self-employed owners of small businesses.

Big Five personality traits and performance anxiety in relation to marching arts satisfaction.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the Big Five personality traits and performance anxiety in relation to marching arts satisfaction. PARTICIPANTS: Data were collected from 278 instrumentalists (i.e., brass players and percussionists) and color guard performers (e.g., dancers) representing six world class drum and bugle corps. METHOD: PARTICIPANTS completed three measures: the Adolescent Personal Style Inventory was used to measure the Big Five personality factors: Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness; the Performance Anxiety Questionnaire - used to assess somatic and cognitive symptoms of performance anxiety; and the Marching Arts Satisfaction - used to assess for the physical, social, and contextual environments of drum and bugle corps. RESULTS: Correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed concurrent relationships between the Big Five and performance anxiety with satisfaction. A linear combination of the Big Five traits and Performance Anxiety accounted for 36% of the total variance in satisfaction, with Extraversion, Emotional Stability, and Performance Anxiety contributing significant unique variance. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study suggest that performers who are extraverted, conscientious, and effective at managing general stress - and performance stress in particular - find a greater sense of satisfaction with their participation in world class drum and bugle corps.

Personality traits and career satisfaction of health care professionals.

Based on Holland's theorizing that vocational satisfaction arises from a good match between one's personality and career choice, one purpose of the study was to examine broad and narrow personality traits that characterize health care workers in comparison with professionals from other occupations. Also investigated were ways in which characteristic traits of health care workers were related to career satisfaction. Professionals utilizing the services of eCareerfit.com responded to online surveys that have been demonstrated to produce reliable and valid measures of broad and narrow personality traits and levels of career satisfaction. An independent sample t test was used to compare means of health care workers with those from other occupations. Pearson product-moment correlations were then computed to assess relationships between the traits and career satisfaction of health care professionals. Two traits that were particularly strong among health care workers were also significantly correlated with career satisfaction: work drive and conscientiousness. Other traits were found to be significantly related to career satisfaction in health care but were not uniquely high in the sample of health care professionals. To increase career satisfaction of health care professionals and thus to improve retention rates, administrators should consider focusing on recruiting and selecting individuals with higher levels of key personality traits.

The Self Test: a screening tool for dementia requiring minimal supervision.

BACKGROUND: The main purpose of this study was to correlate a newly developed, simple, but comprehensive screening test for dementia called the Self Test (ST) with the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE), and establish the reliability and validity of the ST. METHODS: The ST was administered to 42 consecutive new referrals to the memory clinic at the Cole Neuroscience Center, University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC), Knoxville, TN, U.S.A. and 41 age-matched control subjects at regular intervals over a 12-month period. RESULTS: The total ST scores correlated well with cognitive severity as measured by the MMSE (r = 0.71, p < 0.01). The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUROCC) in the group of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) with less than a high school education was 0.80, and 0.89 in those with at least a high school education. Reliability analysis showed a mean inter-item correlation of 0.31 for patients with AD, and 0.47 for normal participants. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to be 0.70 for the AD group. Test-retest reliability was determined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC = 0.93, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The ST is an internally consistent, reliable and valid screening test for cognitive impairment in persons exhibiting early symptoms of dementia. In addition, the ST requires minimal nonprofessional supervision and may be administered by an untrained person.