The Relationship Between Personality as Measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and Interest as Measured by the Kuder Preference Record

Counselors frequently use batteries of psychological tests in helping students to select appropriate educational and occupational choices. The task of interpreting scores on a battery of tests to students is not at any time a simple undertaking. The trend toward emphasis on the importance of the relationship among the various scores in a battery of tests, has further complicated test interpretation. Vocational choice theories suggest an interrelationship between vocational interests and personality characteristics. They further suggest that different educational majors and occupations require different types of vocational interest and personality characteristics. Two tests, The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (hereafter referred to as the MMPI) and the Kuder Preference Record-Vocational (hereafter referred to as the Kuder), are frequently used to help students make educational and occupational choices. To help counselors make better interpretations, a number of research studies, using the MMPI and Kuder to determine the relationship of measured interest to measured personality traits have been conducted. The results of these studies have tended to disagree. Some studies have found no significant relationships between the two variables; while others have found significant relationships. There have also been many research studies, using the MMPI and Kuder, to determine personality and interest differences among the different college majors. These studies, too, have disagreed. Because of these limitations, there appears to be a need for a more systematic and dependable method of establishing relationships among the MMPI and Kuder, and of interpreting the patterns which are formed by those relationships