The Role of Personality in Career Preference of Speech-Language Pathology Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to obtain a personality profile, as measured by the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (Tellegan, 2003), of undergraduate and graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) students and to examine the role of personality in student indicated age and facility preferences. Career preferences were obtained using a custom demographic questionnaire that was administered along with the MPQ in an electronic survey. The responses on the MPQ were scored and MANOVAs were conducted to evaluate the effects of the 11 primary personality traits on the two dependent variables, age and setting preference. A general personality profile of the 231 speech-language pathology students was obtained, but a degree of variance in the responses may indicate that a variety of personality types can thrive within the field. Personality traits were not found to significantly contribute to student age or facility preference.