Confounding of personality and social class characteristics in research on premature termination.

Conducted a study with 68 male outpatients (mean age, 29.5 yrs) to determine whether previous research in the area of premature termination had confounded personality with social class variables. It was hypothesized that while middle- and lower-class Ss might differ on 3 personality characteristics previously shown to be related to premature termination, no differences on these personality characteristics would be found between Ss who terminated and those who remained within any single social class. The Terminator-Remainer Scale was administered to 34 lower- and 34 middle-class Ss. Half of each group was identified as terminators or remainers. A 2 * 2 factorial analysis of variance with planned comparisons tested the hypothesis. Results confirm the hypothesis for the Behavior Disturbance and Modified F scales but not for the modified Taylor Manifest Anxiety scale. In addition, it was found that the prediction of termination with the Terminator-Remainer Scale seemed to be made primarily on the basis of social class. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)