The purpose of this study was to identify certain measurable personality traits characteristic of scholastic underachievement from the results of selected personality tests. Underachievement is defined in terms of a negative discrepancy between predicted and achieved grade point averages. Measurable personality traits are defined in terms of item respom1es on three personality inventories of 543 items. Current work on personality and personality testing tends to reveal that personality is environmentally conditioned. To date, most personality tests have been validated by the method of internal consistency and not against an external criterion. A preliminary survey suggested that academic underachievers are somewhat maladjusted. Hence, this thesis is based upon the hypothesis that there is a specific type of maladjustment designated as academic maladjustment, and that personality traits characteristic of this academic maladjustment can be identified by employing an external criterion of it-namely underachievement