Showing papers by "Robert R. McCrae published in 1986"

Personality, coping, and coping effectiveness in an adult sample

Abstract: Two studies of coping among community-dwelling adults (N= 255,151) were used to examine the influence of personality on coping responses, the perceived effectiveness of coping mechanisms, and the effects of coping and personality on well-being In both studies a wide range of potential stressors was examined, categorized as losses, threats, or challenges The personality dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience, as measured by both self-reports and spouse- and peer-ratings, were systematically related to coping mechanisms in both studies There was general agreement across types of stressors on the use and perceived effectiveness of the 27 coping mechanisms, and individuals who used more effective ways of coping generally reported higher subsequent happiness and life satisfaction However, personality variables are also known to be determinants of well-being, and the associations between coping and well-being were reduced when personality measures were partialled out Some implications for the design and interpretation of coping effectiveness studies are discussed

Evaluating comprehensiveness in personality systems: The California Q‐Set and the five‐factor model

Abstract: The analysis of natural language trait names and questionnaire scales has suggested that the five factors of Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness, Agreeable-ness, and Conscientiousness constitute an adequate taxonomy of personality An alternative approach to comprehensive personality assessment based on clinical judgments is given by the California Q-Set (CQS, Block, 1961) When self-Q-sorts from 403 adult men and women were factored, the five factors closely resembled those found in adjectives, and showed convergent and discriminant validity against self-reports and peer- and spouse-ratings on measures of the five-factor model Results were replicated when interviewer Q-sort ratings were examined for a subset of subjects These findings strongly support the claim to comprehensiveness of the five-factor model

Cross-sectional studies of personality in a national sample: 2. Stability in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness.

Abstract: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) Epidemiologic Followup Study were used to examine age differences in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience. Cross-sectional analyses of data from 10,063 respondents showed that older subjects were slightly lower in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness; that age trends were not curvilinear; and that there were no differences in personality scores that might be attributable to a mild-life crisis or transition. Comparison with data from 654 participants in the Augmented Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (ABLSA) showed that the ABLSA sample was lower in extraversion and higher in openness than the national sample, although the differences were small in magnitude. Results were interpreted to mean that sampling and attrition in this longitudinal sample did not seriously bias results on these personality variables, and that cross-sectional findings from a large probability sample support the conclusion that personality is predominantly stable in adulthood.

Cynicism and paranoid alienation in the Cook and Medley HO Scale.

Abstract: Factor analysis of responses from 1002 men and women were used to define two subscales of the Cook and Medley Hostility Scale. Both the Cynicism and the Paranoid Alienation subscale described attitudes of mistrust and alienation, and both were correlated with MMPI factors measuring aspects of psychopathology. It was suggested that measures of the broader domain of Agreeableness-Antagonism be examined as possible predictors of CHD.

Correlations of MMPI Factor Scales With Measures of the Five Factor Model of Personality

Abstract: Two recent item factor analyses of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) classified the resulting factors according to a conceptual scheme offered by Norman's (1963) five factor model. The present article empirically evaluates those classifications by correlating MMPI factor scales with self-report and peer rating measures of the five factor model in a sample of 153 adult men and women. Both sets of predictions were generally supported, although MMPI factors derived in a normal sample showed closer correspondences with the five normal personality dimensions. MMPI factor scales were also correlated with 18 scales measuring specific traits within the broader domains of Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness. The nine Costa, Zonderman, McCrae, and Williams (1985) MMPI factor scales appear to give useful global assessments of four of the five factors; other instruments are needed to provide detailed information on more specific aspects of normal personality. The use of the five factor model in routine clinical assessment is discussed.

Well-being scales do not measure social desirability.

Abstract: To examine the contention that well-being scales are contaminated by socially desirable responding, three well-being measures were correlated with peer ratings of neuroticism before and after controlling for Edwards' social desirability in a sample of 62 adult men and women. Because social desirability was correlated with rated neuroticism, "correcting" for social desirability bias decreased, rather than increased, the validity of well-being measures as judged against an external criterion. Findings support the position that self-reports of well-being can generally be taken as veridical assessments.

Cross-sectional studies of personality in a national sample: 1. Development and validation of survey measures

Abstract: Short scales were developed to measure three broad dimensions of personality in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) Epidemiologic Followup Study. Items to measure neuroticism were selected rationally from the General Well-Being Schedule, and items to measure extraversion and openness to experience were selected by multiple regression from the NEO Personality Inventory. In a sample of 654 men and women from the Augmented Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, all three short scales showed clear evidence of convergent and discriminant validity against full scales in self-reports, and against peer and spouse ratings. Because they were developed and validated on a sample with a comparable age range, the NHANES scales should be useful in examining age trends in these three personality dimensions in a national sample.

Age, personality, and the Holtzman Inkblot Technique.

Abstract: Recent longitudinal studies using personality questionnaires and ratings have shown remarkable stability across the adult years. In an investigation of age changes and differences in personality as measured by the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT), ninety-three men and women aged twenty-five to ninety were administered Form A of the HIT; forty-four of these were retested one to three years later. Stability coefficients ranged from .07 for Form Appropriateness to .73 for Form Definiteness, with most variables showing significant but moderate stability. Repeated measures analyses of variance showed increases in six variables and decreases in two others, but only one of these changes was paralleled by cross-sectional age differences. Correlations with self-report measures of the broad personality domains of neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience failed to show hypothesized relations, and the associations seen were attributable to chance. It was concluded that the HIT measures perceptual-cognitive variables that are moderately stable in adulthood.