Personality profile of the satisfied and dissatisfied Greek university students

Abstract

From a large sample of Greek university students
(N — 1200) those students who were highly satisfied
and those students who were highly dissatisfied
with their educational program were selected by
means of a semantic differential x attitude test. The
satisfied group consisted of 99 males and 92 females
while the dissatisfied group consisted of 36 males
and 20 females. Mean scores on a Greek translation
of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule were
computed for these four groups of students. The results
indicate that satisfied males are significantly
higher than dissatisfied males on need for order and
significantly lower than dissatisfied males on
need for autonomy. Satisfied females are signifi 

cantly higher than dissatisfied females on needs for
order and affiliation and significantly lower than
dissatisfied females on needs for dominance and autonomy.
The variable of need for achievement did not
differ between satisfied and dissatisfied groups for
either sex.
The results suggest that satisfied students, regardless
of sex, tend to be conforming, passive and (for
females) interpersonally oriented. Dissatisfied students
tend to be independent, non-conforming, and
(for females) dominating. The two groups (satisfied
vs. dissatisfied) do not, however, differ in their needs
for achievement and success. Both groups have «average
» scores on this achievement variable—a fact
which suggests that high achievement students are
only moderately satisfied with their educational
program.
The research also presents further evidence for the
validity and utility of the new Greek translation of
the EPPS. Although this study is extracted from the 

same data that were used for the standardization
of the Greek EPPS, the data do support an intuitively
sensible interpretation of the personalities of
satisfied and dissatisfied university students. Further
research using the Greek EPPS should be able to
demonstrate the utility of the test as both a counseling
and research instrument.