The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator profiles of Resident Assistants

The purpose of this study was to ascertain if there is a dominant Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) profile for Resident Assistants at three institutions of higher education in the southeast United States, and to determine if that personality profile differs based on demographic information. The MBTI is a forced-choice personality indicator that characterizes an individual as extroverted or introverted, sensing or intuitive, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving.

The MBTI was administered to 182 Resident Assistants at three institutions of higher education in the southeast. The indicators were scored and sorted based on type of institution (public or private), gender, race/ethnicity, and field of study. A chi-square analysis was done to determine if the frequency counts of MBTI profiles were statistically significant or merely coincidence.

This study found that Resident Assistants do not have one MBTI profile that is dominant. While the distribution of profiles is not even, it is not statistically significant. It was also found that there is no significant difference in MBTI profile distributions based on the Resident Assistant's race/ethnicity; however, significant differences existed based on type of institution, gender, and field of study.

Resident Assistants at private, religiously affiliated institutions prefer judging versus perceiving significantly more than Resident Assistants at public institutions. Similarly, male Resident Assistants are more likely than female Resident Assistants to prefer perceiving to judging. Resident Assistants majoring in business or law/government are show preference for thinking in comparison to other fields of study.

A comparison between Resident Assistants and traditional age college students revealed that female Resident Assistants are significantly more intuitive than traditional age college females. Additionally, male Resident Assistants are significantly more feeling than traditional age college males. While all of these differences exist, there are no significant differences between the MBTI profiles of Resident Assistants and that of the general population.