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Adult development : traits of instrumentality and expressiveness

The purpose of this research was to examine significant change, if any, in instrumental and expressive traits during adulthood. The research was designed to test the assumption that chronological age and psychosocial stage are related to instrumentality and expressiveness.The present study utilized the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) and a personal information questionnaire. The research question was: Are there differences in traits of instrumentality and expressiveness at different stages of adult development?Three hundred sixty-three men and women between the ages of 20 and 70 participated in the study. The sample included 164 men and 197 warren. Participants were members of volunteer organizations. They were assigned to different groups based on age and psychosocial development.Four 3 x 3 Analyses of Variance procedures were performed. There were three levels of age: (1) 20-35, (2) 36-50, and (3) 51-70. Categorization of psychosocial stage included: (1) no children, (2) children from birth to graduation from high school, and (3) all children graduated from high school. Sex was not combined, rather separate analysis was performed on each sex. The dependent variables were expressiveness and instrumentality as defined by scores on the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. The following effects were studied:(1) Effects of age and psychosocial stage on traits of instrumentality in men.(2) Effects of age and psychosocial stage on traits of expressiveness in men.(3) Effects of age and psychosocial stage on traits of instrumentality in women.(4) Effect of age and psychosocial stage on traits of expressiveness in women.The results of the research indicated that traits of instrumentality and expressiveness in men and women do not change significantly during adulthood. No significant differences were found in men or women with regard to age and psychosocial development on traits of instrumentality and expressiveness.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/178590
Date January 1987
CreatorsMiller, Marian M.
ContributorsHayes, Robert E.
Source SetsBall State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Formatv, 81 leaves ; 28 cm.
SourceVirtual Press

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