In this cross-sectional study we analyzed the relationship between problem behaviors in school context, such as indiscipline, disrespect or conflictuality, and personality and psychopathology, which were operationalized in the PSY-5 dimensions of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A). Participants were 351 students from 9th to 12th grades, aged from 14 to 18 years old, and distributed in three different groups, according to their report of problem behavior frequency. Instruments were the Portuguese experimental version of the MMPI-A and a questionnaire on several school dimensions, including problem behaviors. Multivariate statistical analysis of variance indicates significant differences between the groups in PSY-5 dimensions, in a pattern in which the group presenting the highest frequency of problem behaviors has higher results in the MMPI-A. Results are interpreted under a perspective that underlines the importance of personality in the comprehension of adaptation to school, as well as the relevance of psychological assessment techniques that make possible to detect, within normality contexts, students at risk of developing non-adaptive developmental pathways.
Personality; school adjustment; externalization; MMPI-A
