Measurable Traits of Personality and Incidence of Somatic Illness among College Students

Objective personality test and sociometric correlates of frequency of sick bay visits.

“…22 5, 897;Scheier, 1958) of personality, sociometric ratings, and an index of frequency of sick bay visits. Previous studies have demonstrated that certain personality test scales are related to the incidence of somatic illness (Staton & Rutledge, 1955) as well as to the nature of the particular disability group (Wiener, 1956). The correlations obtained with frequency of dispensary visits have generally been small, and studies such as those above have been limited to the self-report, or questionnaire, approach to personality appraisal.…”

“…In a sample of 95, Staton and Rutledge (1955) obtained point biserial correlations between a group having a high frequency of infirmary visits and a low frequency group and MMPI scales. Correlations ranged from .05 to .36 with four out of nine reaching significance at the .05 level or better.…”