ERIKSON'S THEORY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HEALTHY PERSONALITY IS INTEGRATED WITH HOLMES' THEORY OF READING IN ORDER TO DERIVE A TESTABLE HYPOTHESIS REGARDING THE CONTRIBUTION OF SPECIFIED PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS TO READING SUCCESS AND TO VALIDATE THE FINDINGS. THE STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN THE FOLLOWING THREE PHASES--THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW SCALES COMPOSED OF PERSONALITY ITEMS WHICH SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENTIATED GOOD AND POOR READERS AT THE NINTH-GRADE LEVEL IN 1936, A LONGITUDINAL APPLICATION OF THESE SCALES TO THE SAME SAMPLE OF STUDENTS WHEN THEY WERE IN THE SEVENTH, EIGHTH, AND NINTH GRADES IN 1933 AND 1934, AND A CROSS-SECTIONAL REPLICATION AFTER 30 YEARS. FIVE SAMPLES WERE USED. TWO (N'S-160 AND 130) WERE DRAWN FROM THE LONGITUDINAL STUDY (1933-35) AT THE INSTITUTE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. THREE COMPARABLE SAMPLES WERE SELECTED FROM GRADES SEVEN, EIGHT, AND NINE IN 1966. SPECIFIC PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS HYPOTHESIZED FROM AN INTEGRATED ERIKSON-HOLMES THEORY WERE CONSISTENTLY RELATED TO READING IN THE SEVENTH, EIGHTH, AND NINTH GRADES, AND FOR TWO SIMILAR GROUPS 30 YEARS LATER. THE REPORT INCLUDES TABLES, FIGURES, THE SELF-INTEREST INVENTORY, AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY. (RH)