ABSTRACT
The study sought to identify culturally determined uniformities and differences in the personality structure and development of Maori and pakeha adolescents and how they are transmitted to the developing individual. The data have particular relevance to the serious problems of keeping Maori youth in school beyond the age of fifteen and of increasing Maori representation in the professions and skilled trades. The general plan was to utilize one rural and one urban group of Maori male adolescents and comparable groups of pakeha adolescents from the same localities. There is no such thing as a "typical" Maori community, and no attempt was made in this study to use a stratified sample representative of the Maori population in New Zealand. Pakeha pupils had higher occupational prestige needs than Maori pupils and considered vocational achievement a more important life goal. Maori pupils also receive less encouragement from their peers than pakeha pupils do to strive for vocational achievement.
