Social Adjustment and Curiosity of Fifth-Grade Children

Summary

On the basis of Freud's characterization of curiosity as a social coping mechanism, it was hypothesized that children considered to be high in curiosity would likewise show higher levels of social adjustment and maturity than would low-curiosity children. Teachers and peers, using a prior developed definition of curiosity, identified 60 high- and 49 lowcuriosity boys and 50 high- and 41 low-curiosity girls attending the fifth grade in suburban Delaware schools. Eighteen measures of social adjustment, competence, and maturity were administered. The hypothesis was sustained with 15 of the measures significant at the .05 level or better. The findings clearly indicated that the more favorable social characteristics were related to high curiosity. Whether this relationship is a causal one or whether both social adjustment and curiosity are due to other underlying factors remains to be seen.