Influence of Social Maturity on Personality Traits of Urban and Rural High School Students

Social maturity means knowing what to do and striving for it by following role models to reach the desired level of acceptable social behavior. Personality comprised of pattern of feelings, thoughts, and activities that distinguishes one person from another. A study was conducted to examine the influence of social maturity on personality traits of urban and rural high school students. Randomly drawn 480 students studying in 8th, 9th and 10th classes of Kannada medium Government and private aided high schools of urban and rural areas constitute the sample for the study. Social maturity of students was assessed by using social maturity scale by Rao (2000) and personality traits of students was assessed by using million adolescent personality inventory by (Millon et al., 2004). On analysis, results revealed that, majority of the urban and rural high school students showed moderate behavior on social maturity and it was higher for urban students than for rural students. Significant differences was found on introversive, inhibited, cooperative, respectful and sensitive personality traits among urban and rural high school students. There was a significant positive relationship between social maturity and personality traits (cooperative, confident & respectful personality traits) in urban area, such that, social maturity enhances the positive personality development in students. In rural students, social maturity was positively correlated with confident personality trait and negatively correlated with introversive and sensitive personality trait, indicates, social maturity enables the quality of social engagement and enhance confidence in students.