# MBTI for kids and teens



## fihe (Aug 30, 2012)

today at work, my high school students did an MBTI assessment as part of a college preparedness program, to help them see how their personality traits and work habits may match up with future occupations and help them choose a major. I wanted to ask the board how appropriate they think it is to use MBTI for teens, and maybe even for kids even younger.


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## Little Cloud (Jan 12, 2013)

I think that it's an interesting question! 
Maybe it's not the better thing show them this instrument because they're too small and so their personality is not shaped yet! So MTBI could be not a potentiality but a limit to their personality's development!
However I'm not sure of that and however I find this question really amazing!


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## hulia (Sep 13, 2012)

I was in high school last year, we did the whole MBTI assessment thing in my psychology class. We never ventured far into it, though... it was basically, "Oh, you're an XXXX, and these are the personality traits that come with it." I tested out as an INFJ in the beginning, and did research on what jobs are best for that type. Things of that nature. We never went into functions, and how they work, and what they mean. It was just laid out flat like, "So, you're an Introvert, who uses intuition, has a preference for feeling, and is a judger rather than a perceiver." 

I think it's a useful tool just for a background sort of thing, so maybe students can see what jobs would most likely be suited best for them, and to learn more about themselves, though.


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## Figure (Jun 22, 2011)

I remember taking it for school at age 10, typing as an INFP (haha), and thinking it was really interesting. This was back in 1999 though, so there wasn't really as much mass-propagated information to support the result. 

What's really interesting is to go back and remember how I answered the questions. I specifically remember mistaking (though it didn't seem like it then) things that pointed to "P" with things that pointed to "N," as well as things that pointed to "N" as things for "F." I thought "keeping options open" meant that you didn't think in black and white, like my ISTJ and ISFJ parents do, since they always came across to me as being extremely rigid, and limited in what they could "see." Or, for the latter case, that "having a sense of values" was to mean something more along the lines of "seeing beyond the tangible."

The actual process taking place behind all of this was that I was perceiving my own (Ni) abstract way of looking at the question, and choosing the option that most explicitly fits my conception of what it was asking (Te). I do remember _changing answers _to accommodate these ideas, despite being told to go with the first one, and not being really comfortable with the "F" designation. I knew something was definitely overexaggerated - I can definitely be polite, caring, and people-oriented as a 9, but no INTJ or Thinker, really, uses that information as the core basis of their decision-making. I didn't feel comfortable with P either, since some tests make it sound as though P's are basically screwed in the world due to their disorganization. Someone who knew what functions I use would have been amazed to see the disparity between my perception of the test as a child, and how my real functions were actually being used to interpret what it was asking. This is _also _a problem with adults. 

So, I'm not sure what the age cutoff would be. Younger/elementary school kids definitely stand a strong chance at being mistyped - which is compounded by the enneagram problem, which tricks even adults. I know I developed Ni preference, and even 9 tendencies before some sources say kids do, but it would be hard to isolate that by a test. I do, however, think it's possible to tell N/S early on. I remember ENFP from Kindergarten. I also think it's possible to be stimulated by positive exposure to our inferior early on as well.


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## Tula13 (Dec 2, 2012)

I think high school is a good time to take the test. Kids younger than that may have the functions well-developed but maybe can't necessarily answer questions about it.


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## Sinthemoon (Jan 9, 2013)

There's a serious lack of validity that needs to be dealt with when the outcome would be a choice that is going to affect much of their young adult life. I don't think it's ethically sound to do that, unless for research purpose with the agreement of an ethical committee. After all, it's a psychological intervention done on underage kids, too young to express consent. At the very least, parents should sign a consent before it's done.

Even though my field is psychiatry, I did have a formation in research including ethics of psychological research. Anything done to anyone needs an informed consent, and anything that is not usually done needs to be approved by an ethical committee before you do it.

(I'm not angry or anything, I don't think it's horrible what the teacher has done, but if you use science's language you should follow science's rules.)


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