College Dropouts: Dismissed vs. Withdrew

This study investigated the effect of classifying under the common category of “dropout” both those students who are dismissed for academic reasons and those who withdraw voluntarily. Two groups of college dropouts, namely the dismissed and those who withdrew, were compared with a control group of persevering students in performance on cognitive and personality measures. The two groups were found to differ in an inverse relationship on several sets of measures, thus demonstrating differences in intellectual ability and personality characteristics.