Personality and achievement of preschoolers with typical development and mental retardation

The aim of the research was to reveal the connection between individual personal characteristics and the level of achievement of educational results by preschool children with typical development, and mental retardation. The authors examined typically developing children at the age of 4-7 years old (N=61) and two groups of preschool children equated by gender and, partly, by age: with typical development (N=8) at the age of 5-7 years old and with the mental retardation (N=8) at the age of 5-7.5 years old. The rating scale of preschooler's competencies and a personality questionnaire M5-PS were used. It was revealed that typically developing children with a high intensity of ''open-mindedness", "integrity" and "extraversion" factors were more successful in mastering educational competencies, than their peers with low intensity of these factors (p<0,00001). Children with the mental retardation, in comparison with the children with the typical development, had the marks of these indices which were significantly lower (p=0,001; p=0,003; p=0,003). The contribution discusses the necessity of further research of the nature of the "Big Five" factors and the possibilities of focused educational influence on their development.