THE UTILITY OF THE NEO-PI-3 IN A SAMPLE OF SOUTH AFRICAN ADOLESCENTS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25159/1812-6371/1739Keywords:
adolescence, NEO-PI-3, personality, personality assessment, reliability, validityAbstract
Psychological tests, particularly personality tests, are routinely employed for career guidance and counselling, in university selection procedures and therapeutic settings with adolescents. The NEO-PI-3 is the newest revision in the NEO family of personality instruments and has been revised to suit adolescent populations. This research explored the utility of the NEO-PI-3 in a convenience sample of 329 learners from a public school in Johannesburg, South Africa. Utility was established using a mixed methods approach where internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the NEO-PI-3 was explored using Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis. Learners were also asked to comment on the appropriateness of the NEO-PI-3 items. These comments were subjected to thematic analysis. Reliability coefficients for the NEO-PI-3 scales were variable. The factor structure for this sample was incongruent with cross-cultural samples but a five factor solution resembling the normative sample was found once the Compliance facet was removed. 36.2% of the sample reported experiencing difficulty with understanding words and items on the NEO-PI-3. The most dominant theme identified amongst the learners was a lack of understanding of items and words. This was followed by problems with item construction, questionnaire length and the repetitive nature of items. The results suggest that the NEO-PI-3 may not be used in its current form in the South African context. Further research and possible test adaption would be needed before using the instrument.
References
Aluja, A., GarcÃa, O., GarcÃa, L.F. & Seisdedos, N. (2005). Invariance of the NEO-PI-R factor structure across exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Personality and Individual Differences, 38(8), 1879–1899. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.11.014
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Burton, P., & Leoschut, L. (2013). School violence in South Africa: Results of the 2012 national school violence study. Claremont: Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention.
Cheung, F. M., Cheung, S., Zhang, J., Leung, K., Leong, F. & Yeh, K. H. (2008). Relevance of Openness as a personality dimension in Chinese culture: Aspects of its cultural relevance. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39(1), 81–108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022107311968
Costa, P.T., Jr., & McCrae, R.R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory and Five-Factor Inventory professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (2002). Looking backward: Changes in the mean levels of personality traits from 80 to 12. In D. Cervone & W. Mischel (Eds.), Advances in personality science (pp. 219-237). New York: Guilford.
Costa, P.T., Jr., McCrae, R.R., & Martin, T.A. (2008). Incipient adult personality: The NEO-PI-3 in middle-school-aged children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 26(1), 71–89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1348/026151007X196273
Cohen, R. J., Swerdlik, M. E. & Stuurman, E. (2012). Psychological testing and assessment (8th ed). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (2008a). The revised NEO Personality Inventory. In G. J. Boyle, G. Matthews & D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment (pp. 179–198). London: SAGE Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849200479.n9
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (2008b). The NEO Inventories. In R.P. Archer & S.R. Smith (Eds.), Personality Assessment (pp. 213–246). New York: Taylor & Francis.
De Bruin, G.P. & De Bruin, K. (2009). Career counselling assessment. In C. Foxcroft & G. Roodt
(Eds.), An introduction to psychological assessment in the South African context (pp. 175– 184). Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
De Fruyt, F., De Bolle, M., McCrae, R.R., Terracciano, A., Costa, P.T., Jr., & Collaborators of the Adolescent Personality Profiles of Cultures Project. (2009). Adolescent personality profiles of cultures project. Assessment, 16(3), 301–311. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191109333760
Laher, S., & Cockcroft, K. (2013). Contextualising psychological assessment in South Africa. In S. Laher & K. Cockcroft (Eds.), Psychological assessment in South Africa: Research and applications (pp. 1–16). Johannesburg: Wits University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18772/22013015782.6
Laher, S. (2013). The NEO-PI-R in South Africa. In S. Laher & K. Cockcroft (Eds.), Psychological assessment in South Africa: Research and applications (pp. 257–269). Johannesburg: Wits University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18772/22013015782.23
Liang, H., Flisher, A.J., & Lombard, C.J. (2007). Bullying, violence and risk behaviour in South African school students. Child Abuse and Neglect, 31(2), 161–171. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2006.08.007
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. Jr. (2007). Brief versions of the NEO-PI-3. Journal of Individual Differences, 28(3), 116–128. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001.28.3.116
McCrae, R. R. & Costa, P. T. Jr. (2008a). Empirical and theoretical status of the Five Factor Model of personality traits. In G. J. Boyle, G. Matthews & D. H. Saklofske (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment (pp. 273–294). London: SAGE Publications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849200462.n13
McCrae, R.R. & Costa, P.T., Jr. (2010). NEO Inventories: Professional manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
McCrae, R.R., Costa, P.T., Jr., Terracciano, A., Parker, W.D., Mills, C.J., De Fruyt, F., & Mervielde, I. (2002). Personality trait development from age 12 to age 18: Longitudinal, cross-sectional, and cross-cultural analyses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1456–1468. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.6.1456
McCrae, R. R., Costa, T.P. Jr., & Martin, T.A. (2005a). The NEO-PI-3: A more readable revised
NEO Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 84, 261–270.
McCrae, R.R., Martin, T.A., & Costa, P.T., Jr. (2005b). Age trends and age norms for the NEO
Personality Inventory-3 in adolescents and adults. Assessment, 12(4), 363–373. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191105279724
McCrae, R. R., Terracciano, A., & 78 members of the Personality Profiles of Cultures Project.
(2005c). Personality profiles of cultures: Aggregate personality traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(3), 407–425. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.89.3.407
McCrae, R.R., Terracciano, A., De Fruyt, F., De Bolle, M., Gelfand, M.J., Costa, P.T. Jr., Yik, M. (2010). The validity and structure of culture-level personality scores: Data from ratings of young adolescents. Journal of Personality, 78(3), 815–838. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00634.x
McCrae, R.R., Zonderman, A.B., Bond, M.H., & Paunonen, S.V. (1996). Evaluating replicability of factors in the Revised NEO Personality Inventory: Confirmatory factor analysis versus procrustes rotation. Journal of Social and Personality Psychology, 70, 552–566. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.552
Nunnally, J.C., & Bernstein, I.H. (1994). Psychometric theory (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Roodt, G., Stroud, L., Foxcroft, C. & Elkonin, D. (2009). The use of assessment measures in various applied contexts. In C. Foxcroft & G. Roodt (Eds.), An introduction to psychological assessment in the South African context (pp. 203-224). Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
Teferi, T.B. & Laher, S. (2013). Exploring the reliability and validity of a Tigrignan translation of the NEO-PI-R in an Eritrean sample. IFE Psychologia, 21(1), 164–181
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
