No abstract

Estimated factor correlations from 14 studies supporting the 5 factor, Big Five model of personality trait organization--5 studies based on children and adolescents, 9 on adults--were factor analyzed. Two higher-order factors were clearly evident in all studies. One was principally related to the Big Five trait dimensions Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability; the other, the dimensions Extraversion and Intellect. Two models, one for children and adolescents, the other for adults, were tested by confirmatory factor analysis with generally excellent results. Many personality theorists appear to have considered one or both of these 2 metatraits, provisionally labeled alpha and beta.

Psychometric studies of the organization of the "natural language of personality" have typically employed rating scales as measurement medium and factor analysis as statistical technique. The results of such investigations over the past 30 years have varied greatly, both with respect to number of factors and with respect to the constructs generated. Re-analysis of the correlations of six studies, including the classical work of Cattell, indicated that the domain appears to be well described by five factors, with some suggestion of a sixth. The five factors were related across studies, using the Kaiser-Hunka-Bianchini method. Generally, the factors were highly related, with most indices of relatedness exceeding .90. The five-factor model was tested by the multiple-group method, used to factor a large-scale study of teachers' ratings of children. With slight modification of the originally hypothesized structure, the five-factor model accounted for the observed relationships quite well. The five constructs suggested by the factors appear to be domains of research effort and theoretical concern which have long been of interest to psychologists.

Studies of personality trait organization as observed in ratings have frequently suggested that a fivefactor model will not only suffice to account for observed correlations but will also stand the test of replicability. Factor analysis of 43 scales used to rate 499 children supported the five-factor model, although, as in some other studies, a weak sixth factor was evident. Intellect very clearly emerged as one of the five factors. The factors appear to be constructs that have been in the personality literature for some time.

Interest has grown in recent years in a five-factor model for the organization of personality characteristics. A brief history of the development of this model is given. It is evident that the model is very general, across variations in raters and ratees and across languages. There is also evidence that the structure of personality inventories reflects this model. Although most of the studies that have demonstrated the model have utilized either self-report inventories or have relied on ratings, there is clear evidence that both ratings and inventories are importantly related to actual behavior. A longitudinal study of children's personality traits is reported. Evidence for the five-factor model is examined, including data for the stability over time of characteristics organized in terms of the model. One trait of particular focus in this study has been Factor 3, often interpreted as Conscientiousness but here referred to as Will to Achieve because of its high correlations with formal measures of educational achievement. Studies indicate that this dimension is responsible for much of the variance in achievement left unexplained by aptitude measures.