Personality Variables and Interest in Self-Help Books

Abstract

122 subjects served in a study which examined whether neuroticism, introversion, and sex predicted interest in reading psychological self-help paperbacks. Subjects completed (a) a pretest questionnaire asking about types of self-help books, (b) the Eysenck Personality Inventory, (c) a chapter from a bestselling self-help book, and (d) an 11-item questionnaire about their interests in self-help books, therapy, and psychological problems. A principal component analysis on 12 questions (dependent measure) gave two major factors, one dealing with self-help books the other with therapy. Scores on these two factors, for each subject, were entered in a regression analysis, using neuroticism, introversion and sex as predictors. Neuroticism was the only significant predictor.