Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32
DOI: 10.12740/APP/36086
Efficient and valid assessment of personality traits:
population norms of a brief version of the NEO
Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)
Annett Körner, Zofia Czajkowska, Cornelia Albani, Martin Drapeau,
Michael Geyer and Elmar Braehler
Summary
Aims: The NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), a well-established 60-item questionnaire based on the
Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality, provides a valuable framework for the interdisciplinary approach
to personality research and clinical practice. In response to the need for briefer personality measures, a
30-item version of the NEO-FFI (NEO-FFI-30) was developed and its factor structure replicated.
Method: The study examines the psychometric quality of NEO-FFI-30 and provides population-based
norms (n=1908 adults). Reliability coefficients, kurtosis, skewness, correlations and effect sizes illustrate
the psychometric properties of the measure.
Results: The relationships between neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness and sociodemographic characteristics confirm previous research findings and speak to the validity of the brief version. Namely, women report higher neuroticism and agreeableness. Younger individuals indicate more extraversion but less agreeableness and conscientiousness. Finally, openness to experience was related to higher education. Percentile ranks are provided for the total sample and for subgroups by age and gender.
Conclusions: The 30-item-version of the NEO-FFI constitutes an assessment tool comparable with the
full-length instrument with regard to its psychometric properties. As such, the NEO-FFI-30 is a promising
alternative to longer questionnaires, as well as to single-item measures of personality used in research
and clinical practice.
Big Five / personality assessment / psychometric properties / population norm
Personality characteristics have been shown to
be robust correlates and predictors of behavioural problems, coping strategies and psychiatric
disorders [1]. Personality functioning predicts
the frequency of the exposure to various kinds
Annett Korner1 Zofia Czajkowska1 Cornelia Albani2 Martin Drapeau1 Michael Geyer3 Elmar Braehler2,4: 1McGill University, Counselling Psychology Program, Canada; 2Medical Center of the University of Leipzig, Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Germany: 3Academy of Psychotherapy, Erfurt, Germany; 4Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University
Medical Center Mainz, Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Corespondence email: annett.korner@mcgill.ca
of stressors as it affects the appraisal of events as
well as the perception of one’s coping resources
[2]. Research as well as clinical practice benefits
from taking personality variables into account
when designing and delivering psychotherapeutic interventions and psychiatric treatment
regimes for mental disorders [1]. This requires
sound personality models as well as valid and
feasible assessment instruments.
The Five-Factor Model (FFM) is a well-established paradigm for the conceptualisation of human personality, described in terms of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience,
Agreeableness and Conscientiousness [3]. The
model provides a valuable framework for the
22
Annet Körner et al.
multidisciplinary approach to personality examined in relation to mental health, subclinical
syndromes and personality disorders [4-7]. Research has demonstrated the replicability of the
five core personality traits across cultures and
languages [8-11]. The NEO Personality Inventories (NEO-PI) are among the most widely used
instruments to assess the Big Five personality
traits [12]. The 240-item questionnaires: NEOPI and its successors NEO-PI-Revised (NEOPI-R) and NEO-PI-3, capture 6 different facets
for each of the 5 personality domains [12]. The
short form of the NEO-PI, the NEO Five-Factor
Inventory (NEO-FFI), was designed to capture
the 5 main factors in a more economical way but
does not provide facet-specific information. To
maximise convergent and discriminant validity of the NEO-FFI, its 60 items were selected
from the NEO-PI based on examinations of factor structure and internal consistency. The subsequent version, the NEO-FFI-R, showed “modest
improvements in reliability and factor structure”
[13] when compared with the NEO-FFI. However, these differences were found to be “trivial in
magnitude” [13]. The authors concluded that the
NEO-FFI-R and the NEO-FFI were equally valid.
To further improve psychometrics and readability, McCrae & Costa developed the NEO-PI-3 and
its short version, the NEO-FFI-3, with the latter
being identical to the NEO-FFI-R except for the
addition of one new item, “I have no sympathy
for beggars” [14].
Internationally, the original 60-item NEO-FFI
is the most widely used short version [15]. It is
commonly used by German-speaking researchers
and practitioners [16]. To date, no German translation of the NEO-FFI-R or the NEO-FFI-3 exists.
Ultra-brief instruments that contain only one or
two items per personality construct are available
for contexts with severely limited assessment time.
Although some of these extremely short measures
show respectable psychometric properties, they are
more susceptible to acquiescence, memory effects,
socially desired responding and other assessment
problems [17]. The substantially reduced reliability, content validity and criterion validity of such
very brief measures demonstrate that complex constructs cannot be sufficiently captured by only one
or two items [17]. Using only 30 items of the original 60-item version of the NEO-FFI (with 6 items
per domain) offers a middle ground in this dilem-
ma [18, 19]. The 30-item version of the NEO-FFI is
currently applied in diverse research contexts [2025] as well as in clinical settings [26]. The German
manual of the NEO-FFI [16] provides age- and
gender-specific population norms for the original
60-item version of the measure. These normative
data are based on the non-clinical participant pool
of more than 50 individual studies with 12[th]552
participants who completed the NEO-PI-R in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The authors selected a secondary quota sample of 871 males and females, which matches the population of Germany in 2001 regarding gender, age and education.
To date, no normative data representative of the
general population of any country have been published for the 30-item version of the NEO-FFI. The
aim of the present work is to examine the psychometric properties of the NEO-FFI-30 instrument,
to provide German population norms, and to introduce the NEO-FFI-30 to the larger professional community, i.e. non-German speaking researchers and clinicians.
MATERIAlS AND METHOD
Sample
A sample representative of the German population was drawn for a multi-topic survey of the
University of Leipzig, Germany, in November
1999, which included the 60 items of the NEO-FFI.
The study was approved according to the ethical
guidelines of the Committee of the Institutes of
Market and Social Research, Germany [27], and
conducted in compliance with the ethical principles of the Helsinki Declaration [28]. Participants were selected following the random-route
method with 182 sample areas replicating federal election districts across Germany to systematically represent the different regions of the country [29]. In 31% of the randomly selected cases
the targeted person or the household representative declined participation, resulting in a participation rate of 69%. This study includes 1908 German participants of 18 years of age or older (Table 1 – next page). Comparisons with census data
showed that the sample closely matched the total population of the former Eastern and Western Germany in terms of age, education and employment status [30]. However, 55% of the sur-
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Eicient and valid assessment of personality traits
23
Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the study sample
Variable
Age in years
Sex
Marital status
Education
Employment status
Net household
income
Mean (SD) 47.7 (16.9)
Range 18-96
Age groups 18 to 33
34 to 49
50 to 65
> 65
Male
Female
Married
Single
Divorced
Widowed
Less than 8 years of schooling*
Basic secondary school (8-9 years)
Secondary school (10-11 years)
General qualification for university entrance
Technical college (3 years)
College (4 years) or university degree
Still in secondary school
Full-time employment >35 hours/week
Part-time employment 15-35 hours/week
Part-time employment < 15 hours/week
Military/civilian service, maternity leave
Unemployed/ 0 hours short-term employed
Retired
Homemaker
In training
< 750 €/month
≥ 750 – 1250 €/month
≥ 1250 – 2000 €/month
> 2000 €/month
Absolute frequency
(Relative frequency)
472
580
527
329
853
1055
1045
452
165
243
57
758
680
141
100
161
1
787
118
33
25
182
554
123
78
135
480
704
514
(24.7%)
(30.4%)
(27.6%)
(17.2%)
(44.7%)
(55.3%)
(54.9%)
(23.7%)
(8.7%)
(12.8%)
(3.0%)
(39.9%)
(35.8%)
(7.4%)
(5.3%)
(8.5%)
(0.1%)
(41.4%)
(6.2%)
(1.7%)
(1.3%)
(9.6%)
(29.2%)
(6.5%)
(4.1%)
(7.4%)
(26.2%)
(38.4%)
(28.0%)
Note. 1833 ≤ N ≥ 1908 (Household income not reported by 75 participants. Missing data for the other
variables range between 0 and 10); * Starting with grade 1
vey respondents were women while only 51% of
the total population are female. Furthermore, 55%
of the participants were married compared with
47% in the general population.
Measures
The NEO-FFI captures the Big Five personality traits with item responses ranging from
0 (“strong disagreement”) to 4 (“strong agreement”) [31, 32]. The use of only 30 of the orig-
inal 60 items of the NEO-FFI was proposed in
response to the examination of the factor structure of the original instrument in the above-mentioned German population sample [33]. Whereas
previous studies had used various research samples (university students, individuals in training to become military officers, etc.), this was
the first work reporting on the factor structure in
the general population. Numerous items did not
load highest on their respective factor. The differentiation between Agreeableness and Consci-
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32
Annet Körner et al.
24
entiousness seemed particularly compromised
as 6 items (3 items from each scale) showed
highest loading on the “wrong” factor [33]. The
proposed abbreviated version, the NEO-FFI-30,
includes 6 items per scale, all of which showed
the highest corrected item-scale correlation for
their respective original NEO-FFI scale based on
the study sample described above [18]. The fivefactor structure across these 30 items was replicated in a second population sample with 2508
adults [18].
compared with the range of 0.63 to 0.82 for the
original, twice-as-long scales of the NEO-FFI.
Part-whole correlations between the abbreviated and the original scales ranged between 0.88
for Openness to Experience and 0.93 for Neuroticism. The mean scores for Neuroticism, Extraversion and Openness differed only minimally when computed using the abbreviated versus the original scales (Table 2). Cohen’s effect
size indicated moderate differences between the
6- and the 12-item versions of the Agreeableness and Conscientiousness subscales. All scale
means were highest for Conscientiousness and
lowest for Neuroticism.
Table 3 shows scale means and standard deviations of the NEO-FFI-30 by age, gender and
education. Younger age groups reported higher
Extraversion and lower Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Women scored higher on Neu-
RESulTS
Item characteristics
Each item of the Neuroticism subscale correlated with the entire subscale (after excluding
Table 2. Comparison of original and abbreviated version of the NEO-FFI scales
Scales
Neuroticism
Extraversion
Openness
to experience
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
M
SD
Cronbach’s
rtt
r
ES
Long version
1.62
0.62
.82
.82
.93
0.14
Short version
1.52
0.77
.81
.83
Long version
2.20
0.50
.73
.73
.89
-.14
.88
0
.91
-.44
.91
-.42
Short version
2.28
0.62
.72
.73
Long version
2.04
0.47
.63
.67
Short version
2.04
0.64
.67
.59
Long version
2.54
0.47
.72
.75
Short version
2.79
0.65
.75
.72
Long version
2.71
0.55
.82
.82
Short version
2.96
0.62
.78
.78
Note. 1,893 ≤ N ≥ 1,908; rtt = split-half reliability coefficient (Spearman-Brown); r = part-whole correlation between long and
short version (Pearson); ES = effect size (Cohen)
the respective item) between 0.53 and 0.62. The
corrected item-scale correlation ranged between
0.40 and 0.55 for the items of the Extraversion
subscale, between 0.35 and 0.46 for Openness to
Experience, between 0.35 and 0.60 for Agreeableness, and between 0.51 and 0.57 for Conscientiousness. Each item correlated higher with its
own subscale than with any other subscale.
Psychometric characteristics of the NEO-FFI-30
Cronbach’s alpha ranged between 0.67 and
0.81 for the NEO-FFI-30 scales, which can be
roticism and Agreeableness than men. The dichotomous variable of education was computed
by dividing the sample into the group of individuals who completed a maximum of 11 years
of general education (starting at grade 1), which
generally is followed by a vocational training,
versus the group of individuals who completed the 12 or 13 years of general schooling necessary to qualify for university entrance. The
more educated group reported more Openness
to Experience. A multivariate analysis of covariance (1/1763 ≤ d.f.≥1/172) confirmed that after controlling for the effects of the other independent variables the covariate age explained
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Eicient and valid assessment of personality traits
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Table 3. NEO-FFI-30 scale scores by age, sex and education
Scale
Age
Sex
Education
18-33
34-49
50-65
> 65
Male
Female
≤ 11 years
> 11 years
N
471
577
524
323
850
1045
1484
400
M
1.52
1.54
1.51
1.49
1.38
1.62
1.53
1.48
SD
.76
.79
.77
.73
.77
.75
.78
.73
N
471
578
524
323
850
1046
1485
400
M
2.46
2.35
2.21
2.01
2.31
2.25
2.26
2.34
SD
.60
.64
.57
.60
.63
.62
.63
.59
Neuroticism
Extraversion
Openness to
N
470
578
524
322
849
1045
1484
400
M
2.08
2.06
2.03
1.97
2.04
2.05
1.95
2.39
SD
.68
.68
.59
.56
.67
.60
.60
.65
N
470
578
524
323
849
1046
1485
400
M
2.65
2.75
2.87
2.92
2.71
2.85
2.80
2.74
SD
.65
.65
.64
.61
.66
.64
.66
.62
N
470
579
524
324
849
1048
1486
401
M
2.80
2.94
3.08
3.02
2.94
2.97
2.97
2.95
SD
.61
.64
.60
.61
.63
.62
.63
.62
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Note: N = 1908; M = mean total sum over all items of the subscale divided by number of items
between 2% and 6% of the variance (i.e. partial
2 in the subscales of Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (F=107.13, P≤0.001;
F=27.43, P≤0.001; and F=38.75, P≤0.001 respectively). Gender explained 0.3% to 2% of the variance of Neuroticism, Extraversion and Agreeableness (F=35.14, P≤ 0.001; F=5.12, P≤ 0.05; and
F=10.15, P≤0.001 respectively), whereas education explained 8% of the variance in the Openness to Experience subscale (F=158.77, P≤0.001).
There were no significant interaction effects except for the gender and education variables.
However, this interaction effect explained only
0.3% of the variance of the subscales Openness
to Experience and Conscientiousness and as
such is considered negligible (F=4.96, P≤ 0.05
and F=4.78, P≤0.05 respectively).
Population-based norms for the NEO-FFI-30
Percentile ranks for the whole sample and for
the subgroups by age and gender are provided in Tables 4–8 of the Appendix. This allows for
comparing personality characteristics of individuals and of groups, such as research samples, to
the levels of these traits in the general population by either using the reference values for the
whole study sample or for a respective subsample. Means and standard deviations are added
to each table in order to permit the transformation into alternative standardized scores.
DISCuSSION
The high corrected item-scale correlations for
all items of the abbreviated NEO-FFI instrument
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32
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Annet Körner et al.
were found to be superior to the item characteristics of the original 60-item measure for which
this discrimination coefficient was less than 0.40
for 27 items and less than 0.30 for 13 items [30].
Cronbach’s alpha did not differ significantly between the original 12-item and the proposed
6-item versions of the five scales and was satisfactory for Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The low internal
consistency for Openness to Experience seems
only acceptable for group comparisons and other research purposes, but has to be interpreted in
relation to the small number of items of the subscales of the NEO-FFI-30. Moreover, Cronbach’s
alpha of Openness to Experience seems to reflect a general problem with the operationalization of this construct, which has been reported
across languages as these items seem to focus on
interests in philosophy, art and theoretical discussions rather than capturing a broader concept
of openness to experience – an issue also reported for other FFM questionnaires [34]. However, it is remarkable that the shortened Openness
subscale achieves an even higher Cronbach’s alpha than the original version with twice as many
items (0.67 and 0.63 respectively).
Despite containing only six items, the shortened scales correlate highly (between 0.88 and
0.93) with the original scales indicating that the
elimination of items did not result in a significant
loss of information. Cohen’s effect size indicates
moderate differences between the short and the
original scales for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, which further speaks for the content
validity of the short scales as these two NEO-FFI
scales had been particularly problematic (only 5
of the 12 original items had their highest loading on the Agreeableness factor, 3 of the 12 original Conscientiousness items possessed the highest factor loading for Agreeableness and 1 item
loaded highest on Neuroticism) [33].
The relationships of the NEO-FFI-30 scales
with demographic variables such as age, gender
and education confirm previous research findings and clinical experience [35-37]. Gender explained less score variance in our sample than
age, yet it is a very robust finding across cultures that women report higher Neuroticism and
Agreeableness than men [38, 39]. Consequently, standardised scores are reported with the total sample as reference for men as well as wom-
en by age group. Overall, providing standardised scores based on a representative population
sample should further facilitate the utilisation of
this reliable and valid measure as an alternative
to the original 60-item NEO-FFI as well as to the
ultra-short measures of personality. Using the
NEO-FFI-30 circumvents the common psychometric problems of measures with one or two
items per personality trait while the abbreviated instrument still responds to the need for time
efficiency by employing only 6 items per personality factor. This facilitates research in contexts
where numerous variables have to be assessed
or where personality factors are not the main focus of the study [40]. Hence, NEO-FFI-30 enables
research that would not even be attempted with
longer, multi-item measures. At the same time,
the abbreviated 6-item scales may prevent an issue reported for single-item measures of personality characteristics - that is “to substantially underestimate the role that personality traits play
in influencing important behaviours and thereby
overestimate the role played by new constructs”
[17, p. 874]. With 5-10 minutes of administration
time, in clinical practice the questionnaires can
serve as an efficient screening tool to help adjust
communication strategies and intervention plans
to risk-related or protective personality characteristics of the individual patient.
Yet, the NEO-FFI-30 was developed based on
a German population sample drawn almost 15
years ago. Based on cohort studies, one could argue that the age of the data is the lesser evil because for the population-based standardisation
of personality scores there is no such thing as the
Flynn effect for IQ scores. Thus, research as well
as clinical practice may still benefit from the opportunity to compare NEO-FFI-30 scores of individual clients or research samples to the population norms provided here. More caution is required when consulting the German population
norms as a reference for scores of examinees that
are not represented in the current standardization sample of the NEO-FFI-30. Nonetheless, the
present study details of the Big Five scores in the
general population of Germany may be valuable for transcultural and across-language comparisons and potentially ignite and inform the
examination of the NEO-FFI-30 by non-German
speaking research teams.
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32
Eicient and valid assessment of personality traits
27
CONCluSIONS
3. Carducci BJ. The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications, 2nd ed. Wiley-Blackwell; 2009.
The use of only 30 items of the NEO-FFI constitutes an assessment approach comparable
with the full-length instrument regarding reliability and validity. As such it provides a viable
alternative to longer, multi-item instruments as
well as to ultra-brief measures of personality. It
allows for an efficient assessment of the Big Five
personality factors without significant loss of information or psychometric quality when compared with the original 60-item measure. Future
research should examine the psychometric properties of the 30-item version of the NEO-FFI in
other languages and cultures.
4. Kardum I, Hudek-Knezevic J. Relationships between fivefactor personality traits and specific health-related personality dimensions. Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2012; 12(3):
373-387.
5. Kotov R, Gamez W, Schmidt F, Watson D. Linking “big” personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use
disorders: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull. 2010; 136(5):
768-821.
6. Körner A, Geyer M, Gunzelmann T, Brähler E. Persönlichkeitsmerkmale über 60-Jähriger im Kontext sozio-demographischer Faktoren [The influence of socio-demographic
factors on personality dimensions in the elderly]. Zeitschr
Gerontol Geriatr. 2003; 36(2): 130-137.
7. Perry JC, Körner AC. Impulsive phenomena, the impulsive
character (der triebhafte Charakter) and DSM personality disorders. J Pers Disord. 2011; 25(5): 586-606.
8. De Fruyt F, De Bolle M, McCrae RR, Terracciano A, Costa
PT Jr. Assessing the universal structure of personality in early adolescence: The NEO-PI-R and NEO-PI-3 in 24 cultures.
Assess. 2009; 16(3): 301-311.
list of abbreviations
N
Neuroticism
E
Extraversion
O
Openness to Experience
A
Agreeableness
C
Conscientiousness
NEO-PI
NEO Personality Inventory
NEO-PI-R
NEO Personality Inventory-Revised
NEO-PI-3
NEO Personality Inventory-3
NEO-FFI
NEO Five-Factor Inventory
NEO-FFI-R
NEO Five-Factor Inventory-Revised
NEO-FFI-3
NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3
NEO-FFI-30 30-item version of the NEO
Five-Factor Inventory
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Dipl.-Math. Gabriele Schmutzer for her support with the statistical analysis.
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31. Costa PT Jr, McCrae RR. Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)
Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment
Resources; 1992.
32. Borkenau P, Ostendorf F. NEO Fünf-Faktoren-Inventar (NEOFFI) nach Costa und McCrae (Handanweisung) [NEO FiveFactor Inventory (NEO-FFI) by Costa and McCrae (Manual)].
Göttingen: Hogrefe; 1993.
33. Körner A, Geyer M, Brähler E. Das NEO-Fünf-Faktoren Inventar (NEO-FFI): Validierung anhand einer deutschen Bevölkerungsstichprobe [The NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEOFFI): Validation based on a German population sample]. Diagnostica. 2002; 48: 19-27.
34. Wiggins JS. The multivariate paradigm. In: Wiggins JS, editor. Paradigms of Personality Assessment. New York: Guilford Press; 2005: 123-63.
35. McCrae RR, Costa PT Jr, Hrebickova M, Urbanek T, Martin TA, Oryol VE, et al. Age differences in personality traits
across cultures: self-report and observer perspectives. Eur
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36. Lockenhoff CE, Terracciano A, Bienvenu O, Patriciu NS, Nestadt G, McCrae RR, et al. Ethnicity, education, and the temporal stability of personality traits in the East Baltimore epidemiologic catchment area study. J Res Pers. 2008; 42(3):
577-598.
37. Becker G. NEO-FFI scores in college men and women: A
view from McDonald’s unified treatment of test theory. J Res
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38. Schmitt DP, Realo A, Voracek M, Allik J. Why can’t a man be
more like a woman? Sex differences in Big Five personality
traits across 55 cultures. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2008; 94(1):
168-182.
39. Costa PT Jr, Terracciano A, McCrae RR. Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: robust and surprising
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Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag; 1994: 99-116.
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32
Eicient and valid assessment of personality traits
APPENDIx
Table 4. Percentile Ranks for the NEO-FFI-30 Scales in the Population Sample
Raw Score
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
M
SD
Neuroticism
n=1,895
2.0
4.2
7.0
11.0
16.0
22.0
29.8
39.2
47.2
55.8
64.1
71.3
78.2
83.3
86.7
90.5
93.6
95.7
96.9
98.3
98.9
99.3
99.6
99.8
100.0
9.10
4.59
Extraversion
n=1,896
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.4
0.8
1.7
3.2
5.9
8.5
12.9
19.9
27.7
35.9
46.6
57.3
68.5
77.4
85.7
91.6
94.6
96.5
98.2
99.2
99.6
100.00
13.68
3.74
Openness
n=1,894
0.1
0.6
1.2
2.0
3.1
4.3
6.3
9.3
13.5
20.4
30.1
41.2
54.6
65.1
73.8
82.4
87.6
91.9
94.8
96.5
97.8
98.9
99.3
99.6
100.00
12.26
3.81
Note. M = mean total sum over all items of the subscale
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32
Agreeableness
n=1,895
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.5
0.9
2.6
4.2
6.8
10.6
16.1
21.6
27.9
34.7
44.1
53.4
64.4
75.9
82.9
89.0
93.9
97.7
100.0
16.72
3.90
Conscientiousness
n=1,897
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.2
0.5
1.3
2.0
2.6
3.9
6.3
10.3
14.3
18.7
23.9
31.6
40.8
54.2
66.4
76.6
84.0
90.2
96.0
100.0
17.76
3.75
29
Annet Körner et al.
30
Table 5. Percentile Ranks by Sex for the Subgroup of 18 to 33-year-old Individuals
Raw
score
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
M
SD
N
2.2
4.4
9.3
14.2
19.9
27.0
35.8
43.8
52.2
61.1
70.8
80.1
85.4
88.1
90.3
92.5
94.2
95.6
96.5
98.7
99.1
99.6
100.0
100.0
100.0
8.39
4.49
E
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.4
1.3
2.7
4.0
5.8
9.7
15.9
20.4
27.4
44.7
54.0
65.0
76.1
88.1
92.5
95.6
97.8
98.2
99.1
100.0
15.01
3.41
Males
n=226
O
0.4
1.3
3.1
5.3
5.3
6.2
8.4
10.7
15.1
19.1
27.1
40.4
52.9
62.2
72.9
81.3
85.3
89.8
93.8
95.1
97.8
98.7
98.7
99.6
100.0
12.29
4.23
A
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.4
0.9
1.3
2.2
4.4
7.6
11.6
19.1
24.4
32.9
40.9
49.3
58.7
69.3
77.3
86.2
90.2
95.1
98.2
99.1
100.0
15.31
3.93
C
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.4
1.3
2.2
3.6
7.1
11.1
13.8
19.1
28.0
35.1
44.9
53.8
67.6
78.2
84.9
90.2
96.4
99.1
100.0
16.63
3.71
N
0.8
1.2
2.0
4.9
11.0
18.4
22.9
31.8
42.0
53.5
60.4
68.2
75.5
80.4
84.9
89.0
92.2
93.9
95.1
96.7
97.1
98.4
99.6
99.6
100.0
9.80
4.50
E
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.2
2.4
3.3
4.1
6.1
9.0
15.9
21.6
26.9
34.7
45.3
59.2
72.2
80.0
87.8
91.8
93.9
95.9
98.9
100.0
100.0
14.50
3.81
Females
n=245
O
0.0
0.4
0.8
1.2
2.4
4.5
5.3
7.8
12.2
19.2
26.1
36.7
50.2
59.6
67.3
77.1
84.9
90.6
93.9
94.7
96.7
98.4
99.6
99.6
100.0
12.71
3.90
A
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.4
2.4
4.5
5.7
6.9
9.8
17.1
21.6
27.8
35.1
46.1
56.7
68.2
80.0
88.2
91.8
95.5
98.4
100.0
16.44
3.81
C
0.0
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.8
0.8
0.8
1.6
1.6
2.9
3.7
6.5
11.8
15.1
22.0
29.0
41.2
49.4
65.7
76.3
85.7
91.8
94.7
98.0
100.0
16.99
3.60
Note. N = Neuroticism; E = Extraversion; O = Openness to Experience; A = Agreeableness; C = Conscientiousness;
M = mean total sum over all items of the subscale
Table 6. Percentile Ranks by Sex for Subgroup of 34 to 49-year-old Individuals
Raw
score
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Males
Females
n=249
N
2.8
7.6
12.0
16.5
22.1
27.7
39.8
47.0
53.0
E
0.0
0.0
0.4
0.8
0.8
1.6
3.6
7.7
10.8
O
0.4
0.8
1.2
3.6
4.4
7.2
10.0
14.1
18.5
A
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.8
1.2
2.8
C
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.4
0.4
0.8
1.2
2.8
n=328
n=329
n=330
n=330
n=329
N
0.9
2.7
4.0
7.9
13.7
17.4
23.5
33.5
42.1
E
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.3
0.9
2.4
5.2
7.9
O
0.0
0.6
0.9
1.5
2.4
3.0
4.6
7.9
12.2
A
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.3
0.3
0.3
2.4
C
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.3
0.3
0.9
1.2
1.8
Table continues on the next page
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32
Eicient and valid assessment of personality traits
31
9
56.6
14.1
24.5
5.6
2.8
50.6
11.6
18.2
3.3
3.0
10
65.1
17.7
33.3
10.4
3.2
59.1
16.1
28.6
6.4
4.8
11
71.5
21.7
43.4
12.9
6.4
65.5
25.5
37.7
11.6
7.6
12
78.3
28.5
54.6
20.5
10.4
75.3
35.0
50.2
17.3
12.1
13
83.5
37.8
64.7
24.9
15.3
80.5
45.6
62.6
21.9
16.7
14
85.5
47.4
71.5
32.1
18.5
85.7
53.8
72.3
27.4
20.3
15
89.2
61.4
80.7
39.8
24.5
90.2
64.7
80.2
35.6
23.9
16
94.0
69.9
85.5
48.6
28.9
93.0
74.8
86.0
43.8
33.6
17
95.2
80.7
90.4
55.4
43.8
95.1
86.0
89.7
55.9
41.2
18
96.8
88.4
92.4
69.9
54.6
96.3
89.4
94.5
64.7
55.8
19
98.8
94.0
94.4
79.9
66.3
97.9
92.4
96.4
75.1
67.3
20
99.2
96.0
95.2
84.3
77.9
98.8
95.4
97.6
83.0
77.6
21
99.6
97.6
98.0
91.6
81.9
99.1
97.9
98.2
90.0
87.3
22
99.6
98.4
98.0
96.0
87.6
99.4
99.4
99.7
94.8
90.3
23
100.0
98.8
98.4
98.0
94.4
99.4
99.7
100.0
99.1
96.7
24
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
M
8.59
14.22
12.15
13.23
17.78
9.68
13.96
12.55
16.67
17.57
SD
4.97
3.99
4.42
4.05
3.86
4.50
3.71
3.76
3.83
3.82
Note. N = Neuroticism; E = Extraversion; O = Openness to Experience; A = Agreeableness; C = Conscientiousness; M = mean total sum over all items of the subscale
Table 7. Percentile Ranks by Sex for Subgroup of 50 to 65-year-old Individuals
Raw
Score
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
M
SD
N
5.1
7.2
11.0
16.9
23.2
30.0
39.7
50.6
59.1
67.5
75.9
79.7
84.0
88.6
89.9
93.2
95.8
97.9
98.3
98.7
98.7
99.2
99.6
100.0
100.0
7.90
4.56
E
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.8
1.3
2.1
3.4
4.2
10.5
20.3
29.1
37.1
52.3
61.2
74.7
82.7
88.6
93.7
95.8
96.6
98.3
99.6
100.0
100.0
13.48
3.88
Males
n=237
O
0.0
0.4
0.8
0.8
2.5
3.8
5.1
7.2
11.8
21.9
31.6
40.5
54.4
65.4
73.0
82.7
86.5
90.7
94.9
97.0
98.3
99.2
99.2
99.6
100.0
12.33
3.72
A
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
2.1
3.4
5.5
10.5
14.8
20.7
27.8
35.4
45.6
55.3
65.4
75.1
83.1
87.8
93.7
97.0
100.0
16.77
3.81
C
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.8
1.7
1.7
1.7
3.8
7.6
9.7
13.5
17.3
24.5
31.2
47.3
60.3
70.9
79.3
88.2
94.5
100.0
18.46
3.50
N
1.0
2.1
4.2
6.6
10.1
14.6
21.6
32.1
38.3
47.0
55.4
65.5
72.5
78.4
82.9
87.8
91.3
94.4
96.5
98.3
99.3
99.3
99.3
99.7
100.0
10.02
4.47
E
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.3
1.0
1.7
3.5
7.0
9.8
15.0
21.3
30.3
39.4
53.0
66.2
76.7
83.6
91.3
95.8
96.9
98.3
99.3
99.7
99.7
100.0
13.09
3.50
Females
n=287
O
0.0
0.0
0.7
1.0
2.4
2.8
5.2
8.0
13.2
21.6
30.0
42.5
56.8
68.6
79.8
87.1
90.9
94.4
95.5
97.6
99.3
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
12.02
3.39
A
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.3
0.3
0.7
1.0
2.4
3.1
4.2
7.3
12.2
16.4
21.3
25.1
33.8
43.9
53.0
69.3
77.0
83.3
90.2
95.8
100.0
17.59
3.88
C
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.7
1.4
1.7
3.1
4.5
8.0
11.8
14.6
19.9
27.2
33.8
42.5
56.1
67.2
75.6
84.7
95.1
100.0
18.52
3.72
Note. N = Neuroticism; E = Extraversion; O = Openness to Experience; A = Agreeableness; C = Conscientiousness; M = mean
total sum over all items of the subscale
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32
Annet Körner et al.
32
Table 8. Percentile Ranks by Sex for Subgroup of Individuals over 65 Years of Age
Raw
Score
Males
Females
n=138
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
M
SD
N
2.9
6.5
9.4
11.6
13.8
23.9
32.6
44.2
53.6
64.5
70.3
80.4
85.5
90.6
92.8
94.2
95.7
97.8
98.6
98.6
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
8.33
4.16
E
0.7
0.7
0.7
2.9
3.6
5.1
5.8
10.1
13.0
19.6
31.9
42.0
53.6
66.7
73.9
81.9
87.0
90.6
94.9
97.8
98.6
99.3
99.3
99.3
100.0
12.21
3.87
O
0.0
1.4
1.4
1.4
2.9
2.9
5.1
11.6
13.0
18.1
31.9
45.7
60.1
68.8
74.6
84.8
90.6
94.2
96.4
98.6
98.6
99.3
99.3
100.0
100.0
11.99
3.60
A
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.7
2.9
5.8
8.0
11.6
23.2
29.0
33.3
40.6
44.9
60.9
73.9
84.1
89.1
94.9
97.1
100.0
17.00
3.72
C
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.7
2.9
3.6
4.3
4.3
6.5
10.9
16.7
18.8
25.4
29.0
38.4
58.0
67.4
76.1
84.8
90.6
93.5
100.0
17.69
3.92
n=
185
N
1.1
3.2
7.0
11.9
15.1
20.5
27.0
35.1
43.2
52.4
62.2
66.5
73.5
81.6
85.4
90.3
94.1
97.8
98.4
98.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
9.35
4.47
n=
186
E
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.6
4.9
9.7
15.7
22.2
35.7
45.4
57.8
67.0
76.8
83.8
90.3
95.1
97.3
98.4
99.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
11.99
3.35
n=
184
O
0.0
0.0
0.5
0.5
2.2
3.8
7.6
8.7
12.0
19.6
34.2
47.3
63.6
72.3
80.4
87.0
93.5
97.8
98.4
99.5
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
11.71
3.18
n=
185
A
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.6
2.7
3.8
7.6
11.4
17.3
23.2
35.1
41.1
54.6
66.5
73.0
82.7
87.6
96.8
100.0
17.95
3.53
n=
185
C
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.5
1.6
1.6
2.2
3.2
3.8
7.0
9.7
13.4
16.1
20.4
33.9
44.1
60.8
73.7
81.2
91.4
96.2
100.0
18.39
3.45
Note. N = Neuroticism; E = Extraversion; O = Openness to Experience; A = Agreeableness; C = Conscientiousness;
M = mean total sum over all items of the subscale
Archives of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 2015; 1 : 21–32