The Questionnaire Big Six in 26 Nations: Developing Cross‐Culturally Applicable Big Six,Big Five and Big Two Inventories

The Big Five is a useful model of attributes now commonly used in cross‐cultural research, but without the support of strong measurement invariance (MI) evidence. The Big Six has been proposed as a cross‐culturally informed update, and the broader Big Two (Social Self‐Regulation and Dynamism) draws on even more cross‐cultural evidence. However, neither has been rigorously tested for cross‐cultural MI. Here a Big Six inventory (36QB6) and measures of the Big Five and Big Two derived from it were tested and refined for cross‐cultural usability in samples from 26 nations, divided into three subsets. Confirmatory factor analysis of the models in the first subset of nations demonstrated fit as strong in translation as typical personality measures achieve in their nation of origin (although poor per standard benchmarks). Items that performed inconsistently across cultures were removed, and alternates considered in a second subset of nations. Fit and invariance were improved for refined 30‐item QB6, 25‐item Big Five and 14‐item Big Two measures in the third subset of nations. For all models, decrease in comparative fit index between MI levels was larger than .01, indicating lack of support for higher levels. Configural and factorial invariance were relatively stronger, compared to scalar and full. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Marital discord and well-being in older adults: is the association confounded by personality?

The associations between marital discord and multiple measures of well-being (depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and self-esteem) were evaluated in a population-based sample of 416 couples in which the husband was 65 years or older. Results indicated that greater marital discord was associated with greater depression and lower life satisfaction and self-esteem. Furthermore, the associations between marital discord and well-being remained significant when statistically controlling for the rival explanation of the Big Five personality traits. Finally, there was little evidence for gender differences in the magnitude of the associations between marital discord and well-being. Findings suggest that marital discord is an important correlate of multiple measures of well-being in older individuals and that this association is not confounded by the Big Five personality traits.     

Big Five factors of personality and replicated predictions of behavior

Measures of the Big Five factors of personality were used to predict a variety of criterion variables thought to represent behaviors of some social and cultural significance (e.g., alcohol consumption, grade point average). Analyses focused on replicated predictions across 2 independent samples of participants (Ns = 276 and 142) with 3 different measures of the Big Five (the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, and the Five-Factor Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire, the latter an experimental nonverbal personality inventory). The results indicated substantial consistency in behavior predictions across the different Big Five assessments. The data are interpreted as supporting both the construct validity of the personality measures used and the role of the Big Five factors as determinants of certain complex behaviors.     

The validity of the Big Five personality traits for job performance: Meta‐analyses of South African studies

Previous meta‐analyses have established the Big Five personality traits as important predictors of job performance around the globe. This study extends the international generalizability of Big Five criterion‐related validity through systematic review and meta‐analyses of personality–performance research conducted in South Africa. We meta‐analyzed data from 33 studies and 6,782 individuals to estimate validities of Big Five traits for various job performance criteria. Results showed that the Big Five traits have similar validity for job performance criteria as found in other cultural contexts. Conscientiousness was the strongest predictor across performance criteria, while other traits showed validity for specific criteria or subsamples. Results demonstrate the importance of psychometric meta‐analysis for building cumulative knowledge and support applied use of personality assessments in South Africa. Consistency of the results of this study with those of previous meta‐analyses in other national contexts supports the argument that personality–performance relations are a cultural universal.     

Prediction and Cross-Situational Consistency of Daily Behavior across Cultures: Testing Trait and Cultural Psychology Perspectives

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on the cross-situational consistency of behavior, and the predictive validity of traits, were tested in a daily process study in the United States (N = 68), an individualistic culture, and the Philippines (N = 80), a collectivistic culture. Participants completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and a measure of self-monitoring, then reported their daily behaviors and associated situational contexts for approximately 30 days. Consistent with trait perspectives, the Big Five traits predicted daily behaviors in both cultures, and relative (interindividual) consistency was observed across many, although not all, situational contexts. The frequency of various Big Five behaviors varied across relevant situational contexts in both cultures and, consistent with cultural psychology perspectives, there was a tendency for Filipinos to exhibit greater situational variability than Americans. Self-monitoring showed some ability to account for individual differences in situational variability in the American sample, but not the Filipino sample.     

On the Cross‐Cultural Replicability of the Resilient,Undercontrolled, and Overcontrolled Personality Types

Personality types reflect typical configurations of personality attributes within individuals. Over the last 20 years, researchers have identified a set of three replicable personality types: resilient (R), undercontrolled (U), and overcontrolled (O) types. In this study, we examined the cross‐cultural replicability of the RUO types in Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United States. Personality types were identified using cluster analyses of Big Five profiles in large samples of college students from Italy (n = 322), the United States (n = 499), Spain (n = 420), and Poland (n = 235). Prior to clustering the profiles, the measurement invariance of the Big Five measure across samples was tested. We found evidence for the RUO types in all four samples. The three‐cluster solution showed a better fit over alternative solutions and had a relatively high degree of cross‐cultural generalizability. The RUO types are evident in samples from four countries with distinct linguistic and cultural traditions. Results were discussed in light of the importance of considering how traits are organized within individuals for advancing contemporary personality psychology.     

The relationship between momentary emotions and well-being across European Americans,Hispanic Americans,and Asian Americans

Cultural differences in the emphasis on positive and negative emotions suggest that the impact of these emotions on well-being may differ across cultural contexts. The present study utilised a momentary sampling method to capture average momentary emotional experiences. We found that for participants from cultural contexts that foster positive emotions (European Americans and Hispanic Americans), average momentary positive emotions predicted well-being better than average momentary negative emotions. In contrast, average momentary negative emotions were more strongly associated with well-being measures for Asian Americans, the group from a cultural context that emphasises monitoring of negative emotions. Furthermore, we found that acculturation to American culture moderated the association between average momentary positive emotions and well-being for Asian Americans. These findings suggest the importance of culture in studying the impact of daily emotional experiences on well-being.     

‘Personality in Its Natural Habitat’ Revisited: A Pooled,Multi-sample Examination of the Relationships Between the Big Five Personality Traits and Daily Behaviour and Language Use

Past research using the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), an observational ambulatory assessment method for the real-world measurement of daily behaviour, has identified several behavioural manifestations of the Big Five domains in a small college sample (N = 96). With the use of a larger and more diverse sample of pooled data from N = 462 participants from a total of four community samples who wore the EAR from 2 to 6 days, the primary purpose of the present study was to obtain more precise and generalizable effect estimates of the Big Five–behaviour relationships and to re-examine the degree to which these relationships are gender specific. In an extension of the original article, the secondary purpose of the present study was to examine if the Big Five–behaviour relationships differed across two facets of each Big Five domain. Overall, while several of the behavioural manifestations of the Big Five were generally consistent with the trait definitions (replicating some findings from the original article), we found little evidence of gender differences (not replicating a basic finding from the original article). Unique to the present study, the Big Five–behaviour relationships were not always comparable across the two facets of each Big Five domain. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Attachment styles,personality, and Dutch emigrants' intercultural adjustment

The present study examines the relationship of adult attachment styles with personality and psychological and sociocultural adjustment. A sample of 847 first‐generation Dutch emigrants filled out measures for attachment styles, the Big Five, and indicators of psychological and sociocultural adjustment. Positive relationships were found between Secure attachment on the one hand and psychological and sociocultural adjustment on the other. Ambivalent attachment was strongly negatively associated with psychological adjustment. Dismissive attachment was mildly negatively related to sociocultural adjustment. Significant relations were found between attachment styles and the Big Five dimensions, particularly Extraversion and Emotional Stability. The attachment scales were able to explain variance in sociocultural adjustment beyond that explained by the Big Five dimensions. Intercultural adjustment is discussed from a transactional view of personality. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Happiness Inducing Behaviors in Everyday Life: An Empirical Assessment of “The How of Happiness”

The frequency of Happiness Inducing Behaviors (HIB) was assessed in a survey of 903 university students; measures of Big Five personality traits and happiness were also obtained. Students reported engaging in many HIBs about 1–3 times per week. Analysis of HIB yielded three factors: Positive/Proactive Behaviors; Spiritual Behaviors; and Physical Health Behaviors. Positive/Proactive behaviors predicted significant additional variance in happiness beyond the variance predictable from Big Five personality traits. Mediation analysis suggested that effects of Big Five traits on happiness may be mediated to varying degrees by engagement in Positive/Proactive Behaviors and Physical Health Behaviors. Additional analyses examined possible moderation of the association between HIB and happiness by gender and Big Five traits; the strength of association between behavior and happiness did not differ between women and men, or across people with different scores on Big Five traits. This study provides additional evidence that naturally occurring behaviors are predictive of happiness in everyday life and confirms earlier findings about the degree to which behaviors mediate effects of Big Five traits on happiness.     

Broad versus narrow personality measures and the prediction of behaviour across cultures

Measures of several personality variables, from both within and beyond the domain of the Big Five personality factors, were used to predict a variety of complex behaviour outcomes of some social and cultural significance (e.g. alcohol consumption and grade point average). Analyses focused on replicated predictions across participants in four countries (Canada, England, Germany, and Finland) and on the relative predictive accuracies of narrow trait predictors versus broad factor predictors. The results indicated substantial consistency in those predictions across cultures for several of the criteria. Furthermore, the narrow traits were able to account for more criterion variance than were the broad factors underlying those traits. Our data contraindicate the increasingly common practice of using only a few personality factor measures to predict complex human behaviours. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Honesty–Humility and the HEXACO Structure of Religiosity and Well-Being

Past research has shown that general and intrinsic religiosity is related to higher Big Five Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and, to some extent, Extraversion. With the rise of the six-factor HEXACO (Honesty–Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness) model of personality, however, a more differentiated look at religiousness and personality is called for. It has been suggested that religiosity is more associated with Honesty–Humility than with Agreeableness. The new personality factor, Honesty–Humility has also been shown to have null or weak relations with happiness. In 5 studies involving 1375 participants from Iran, Poland, and Malaysia, the relations of Honesty–Humility and other HEXACO dimensions to religious orientation and well-being outcomes were investigated. As expected, Honesty–Humility was one of the strongest personality correlate of religiosity. Higher scores on religiousness were also associated with Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and to some extent, Extraversion showing that the main personality characteristics of religiosity are consistent across religious contexts and personality models. Relations of Honesty–Humility to psychological well-being scales were consistently positive and stronger than its relations to subjective well-being measures, suggesting that Honesty–Humility may not be “bad” for pleasure attainment and pain avoidance, but it is definitely “good” for living a virtuous, fully functioning life.     

Probing the Big Five in Adolescence: Personality and Adjustment during a Developmental Transition

The present study probed the links among Big Five personality differences, self-reported personality differences, and adjustment to school among young adolescents. We used a multimethod converging analysis, with three sources of data: (a) adolescent self-report on standardized personality inventories; (b) classroom teacher trait ratings and evaluations of adjustment; and (c) school guidance counselor evaluations of adjustment. Evaluations of adolescent adjustment were systematically related to Big Five personality differences, as assessed by both classroom teachers' and school counselors' ratings. For classroom teachers, adjustment was closely related to evaluations on the Big Five dimension of Conscientiousness. Adolescent self-report on several standardized measures was not related to adult evaluation of school adjustment. We suggest that the five-factor model may be a useful tool for probing adjustment during the transition to adolescence.     

Optimism and the Big Five factors of personality: Beyond Neuroticism and Extraversion

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the Big Five factors of personality and dispositional optimism. Data from five samples were collected (Total N = 4332) using three different measures of optimism and five different measures of the Big Five. Results indicated strong positive relationships between optimism and four of the Big Five factors: Emotional Stability, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness explained additional variance in dispositional optimism over and above Neuroticism and Extraversion, providing evidence for the complexity of optimism. The position of optimism in the larger web of human personality constructs is discussed.     

Development and validation of the Delaying Gratification Inventory

Deficits in gratification delay are associated with a broad range of public health problems, such as obesity, risky sexual behavior, and substance abuse. However, 6 decades of research on the construct has progressed less quickly than might be hoped, largely because of measurement issues. Although past research has implicated 5 domains of delay behavior, involving food, physical pleasures, social interactions, money, and achievement, no published measure to date has tapped all 5 components of the content domain. Existing measures have been criticized for limitations related to efficiency, reliability, and construct validity. Using an innovative Internet-mediated approach to survey construction, we developed the 35-item 5-factor Delaying Gratification Inventory (DGI). Evidence from 4 studies and a large, diverse sample of respondents (N = 10,741) provided support for the psychometric properties of the measure. Specifically, scores on the DGI demonstrated strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability for the 35-item composite, each of the 5 domains, and a 10-item short form. The 5-factor structure fit the data well and had good measurement invariance across subgroups. Construct validity was supported by correlations with scores on closely related self-control measures, behavioral ratings, Big Five personality trait measures, and measures of adjustment and psychopathology, including those on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form. DGI scores also showed incremental validity in accounting for well-being and health-related variables. The present investigation holds implications for improving public health, accelerating future research on gratification delay, and facilitating survey construction research more generally by demonstrating the suitability of an Internet-mediated strategy.     

Towards understanding assessments of the big five: multitrait-multimethod analyses of convergent and discriminant validity across measurement occasion and type of observer

Multitrait-multimethod analyses were used to examine the degree of convergent and discriminant validity of the Big Five. Phase 1 examined self-reports of the Big Five across three measurement occasions. Self-reports of the Big Five traits were stable, but were moderately intercorrelated. Phase 2 examined assessments of the Big Five across different types of informants (self, peer, and parent). Assessments converged across types of informants and, importantly, there was no evidence of correlation between the Big Five traits across the perspectives of different types of informants. The present results suggest that the degree of orthogonality of the Big Five traits depends on the source of the data. A single informant produces Big Five traits that are intercorrelated, whereas diverse informants tend to produce a much more orthogonal structure. Discussion focuses on methodological considerations in examining levels of convergent and discriminant validity and the theoretical implications for understanding personality assessments and the relationship between three-and five-factor models of personality.     

Emotional intelligence predicts components of subjective well-being beyond personality: A two-country study using self- and informant reports

This study aimed to examine the ability of overall emotional intelligence (EI) to predict cognitive and affective components of subjective well-being. University students in Germany and Turkey responded to self-report measures of EI, Big Five personality traits, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect. Multiple informant ratings on subjective well-being measures were obtained to further support the validity of the findings. Results indicated a positive relationship between EI and affective as well as cognitive facets of well-being, with a closer association on part of the affective aspect. The incremental validity of EI was established in that EI predicted both affect balance and life satisfaction when controlling for the Big Five. Whereas participants in Germany reported better well-being than those in Turkey, personality traits and EI explained more variance in well-being measures in Germany than in Turkey. However, the relationship between EI and well-being did not appear to be culturally bound.