Comparing Personality Types with Educational Disciplines: A Cross-Cultural Study in Iranian and American Students

Student attrition in some Educational disciplines and their continued unwillingness to be employed in various professions has attracted the attention of professional counselors to consider people’s personality types when selecting students from different educational disciplines. Considering the importance of personality types and the role of culture in educational disciplines, the current study has been carried out with the aim to compare personality types of Iranian and US students in different educational disciplines. The statistical population of this descriptive-comparative study includes the students of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran and El-Camino College, US during the 2012-2013 academic years. The participants were selected using the convenience sampling method. Using Cochran’s sample size formula, 320 students (170 Iranian students and 150 American students) were selected from two universities. Data collection tools included Holland’s vocational personality questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The findings showed that 1- There was a significant difference between Iranian and US students in realistic (p=.01), investigative (p < .05), artistic (p=.001) and conventional (p < .01) types (nationality impact). 2- There was significant differences among students of different educational disciplines in investigative (p=.001) and artistic (p=.001) types (educational discipline impact). 3- The interaction impact of nationality and educational discipline on personality types was not significant. According to the results, culture can influence the type and quality of individual personality and consequently the individual personality type in a specific culture performs a significant role in selecting educational disciplines. In other words, cultural needs can indirectly influence the studentsʹ priority in educational discipline selection.