The Validity and Structure of Culture-Level Personality Scores: Data From Ratings of Young Adolescents

We examined properties of culture-level personality traits in ratings of targets (N=5,109) ages 12 to 17 in 24 cultures. Aggregate scores were generalizable across gender, age, and relationship groups and showed convergence with culture-level scores from previous studies of self-reports and observer ratings of adults, but they were unrelated to national character stereotypes. Trait profiles also showed cross-study agreement within most cultures, 8 of which had not previously been studied. Multidimensional scaling showed that Western and non-Western cultures clustered along a dimension related to Extraversion. A culture-level factor analysis replicated earlier findings of a broad Extraversion factor but generally resembled the factor structure found in individuals. Continued analysis of aggregate personality scores is warranted. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.Fil: McCrae, Robert R.. National Institute on Ageing; CanadáFil: Terracciano, Antonio. National Institute on Ageing; CanadáFil: De Fruyt, Filip. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: De Bolle, Marleen. University of Ghent; BélgicaFil: Gelfand, Michele J.. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Costa Jr., Paul T.. National Institute on Ageing; CanadáFil: Klinkosz, Waldemar. The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin; PoloniaFil: Knežević, Goran. Belgrade University; SerbiaFil: Leibovich de Figueroa, Nora. Universidad de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Löckenhoff, Corinna E.. Cornell University; Estados UnidosFil: Martin, Thomas A.. Susquehanna University; Estados UnidosFil: Marušić, Iris. Institute for Social Research; CroaciaFil: Mastor, Khairul Anwar. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia; MalasiaFil: Nakazato, Katsuharu. Iwate Prefectural University; AfganistánFil: Nansubuga, Florence. Makerere University; UgandaFil: Porrata, Jose. No especifíca;Fil: Purić, Danka. Belgrade University; SerbiaFil: Realo, aAnu. University of Tartu; EstoniaFil: Reátegui, Norma. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia; PerúFil: Rolland, Jean Pierre. Universite Paris Ouest Nanterre la Defense; FranciaFil: Schmidt, Vanina Ines. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Investigaciones; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Sekowski, Andrzej. The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin; PoloniaFil: Shakespeare Finch, Jane. Queensland University of Technology; AustraliaFil: Shimonaka, Yoshiko. Bunkyo Gakuin University; JapónFil: Simonetti, Franco. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Siuta, Jerzy. Jagiellonian University;Fil: Szmigielska, Barbara. Jagiellonian University;Fil: Vanno, Vitanya. Srinakharinwirot University; TailandiaFil: Wang, Lei. Peking University; ChinaFil: Yik, Michelle. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; Hong Kon

Breaking ground in cross-cultural research on the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia): A multi-national study involving 73 countries

The current study examines whether the fear of being laughed at (gelotophobia) can be assessed reliably and validly by means of a self-report instrument in different countries of the world. All items of the GELOPH (Ruch and Titze, GELOPH46, University of Düsseldorf, 1998; Ruch and Proyer, Swiss Journal of Psychology 67:19–27, 2008b) were translated to the local language of the collaborator (42 languages in total). In total, 22,610 participants in 93 samples from 73 countries completed the GELOPH. Across all samples the reliability of the 15-item questionnaire was high (mean alpha of .85) and in all samples the scales appeared to be unidimensional. The endorsement rates for the items ranged from 1.31% through 80.00% to a single item. Variations in the mean scores of the items were more strongly related to the culture in a country and not to the language in which the data were collected. This was also supported by a multidimensional scaling analysis with standardized mean scores of the items from the GELOPH15. This analysis identified two dimensions that further helped explaining the data (i.e., insecure vs. intense avoidant-restrictive and low vs. high suspicious tendencies towards the laughter of others). Furthermore, multiple samples derived from one country tended to be (with a few exceptions) highly similar. The study shows that gelotophobia can be assessed reliably by means of a self-report instrument in cross-cultural research. This study enables further studies of the fear of being laughed at with regard to differences in the prevalence and putative causes of gelotophobia in comparisons to different cultures

Assessing the universal structure of personality in early adolescence: The NEO-PI-R and NEO-PI-3 in 24 cultures

The structure and psychometric characteristics of the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3), a more readable version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), are examined and compared with NEO-PI-R characteristics using data from college student observer ratings of 5,109 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years from 24 cultures. Replacement items in the PI-3 showed on average stronger item-total correlations and slightly improved facet reliabilities compared with the NEO-PI-R in both English- and non-English-speaking samples. NEO-PI-3 replacement items did not substantially affect scale means compared with the original scales. Analyses across and within cultures confirmed the intended factor structure of both versions when used to describe young adolescents. The authors discuss implications of these cross-cultural findings for the advancement of studies in adolescence and personality development across the lifespan.</p

The validity and structure of culture-level personality scores: Data from ratings of young adolescents

We examined properties of culture-level personality traits in ratings of targets (N=5,109) ages 12 to 17 in 24 cultures. Aggregate scores were generalizable across gender, age, and relationship groups and showed convergence with culture-level scores from previous studies of self-reports and observer ratings of adults, but they were unrelated to national character stereotypes. Trait profiles also showed cross-study agreement within most cultures, 8 of which had not previously been studied. Multidimensional scaling showed that Western and non-Western cultures clustered along a dimension related to Extraversion. A culture-level factor analysis replicated earlier findings of a broad Extraversion factor but generally resembled the factor structure found in individuals. Continued analysis of aggregate personality scores is warranted

The emergence of sex differences in personality traits in early adolescence: a cross-sectional, cross-cultural study

Although large international studies have found consistent patterns of sex differences in personality traits among adults (i.e., women scoring higher on most facets), less is known about cross-cultural sex differences in adolescent personality and the role of culture and age in shaping them. The present study examines the NEO Personality Inventory-3 (McCrae, Costa, & Martin, 2005) informant ratings of adolescents from 23 cultures (N = 4,850), and investigates culture and age as sources of variability in sex differences of adolescents’ personality. The effect for Neuroticism (with females scoring higher than males) begins to take on its adult form around age 14. Girls score higher on Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness at all ages between 12 and 17 years. A more complex pattern emerges for Extraversion and Agreeableness, although by age 17, sex differences for these traits are highly similar to those observed in adulthood. Cross-sectional data suggest that (a) with advancing age, sex differences found in adolescents increasingly converge toward adult patterns with respect to both direction and magnitude; (b) girls display sex-typed personality traits at an earlier age than boys; and (c) the emergence of sex differences was similar across cultures. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed