PERSONALITY AND FAMILY TYPES ON SELECTIVE MUTISM AMONG ADOLESCENTS

The study investigated personality and family type factors influencing the selective mutism among secondary school adolescents. The design for the study is ex-post-facto. The population for the study is 180 participants who showed tendency towards selective mutism. Three instruments were used to collect data for the study (skill deficit diagnostic instrument, the revised Neo-personality inventory, and the demographic inventory. The reliability of the three instruments were 0.75, 0.76 and 0.81 respectively. Two hypotheses were formulated for the study. The data collected were analyzed with a t-test. The data analysis showed that the joint influence of independent variables was found to be significant. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher recommends that, the adolescents should be encouraged to improve their social skills in their interpersonal behaviours. This is being suggested to reduce those behaviours that aggravate selective mutism.