A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of USM Personality Inventory (USMaP-i) among Medical Degree Program Applicants in Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction:USMaP-i is an English, 66-item self-administered inventory, consisting of personality (60 items, 5 factors) and faking (one factor) components, which was mainly developed to measure personality traits among Malaysian students based on local cultures and values. The personality component was based on the Big Five dimensions as suggested by numerous personality researchers. Previous exploratory studies showed promising validity, reliability and stability of USMaP-i. Objective: To provide further validity evidence of USMaP-i for use among medical degree program applicants by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Methods: Data were collected as a part of screening of medical degree program applicants for year 2010-2013 intakes in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), of which 657 cases were suitable for analyses following a data screening measures. CFA was performed by bootstrap maximum likelihood estimation due to non-normality of items at multivariate level. Results: Although the revised five-factor model of personality showed good model fit (X2(df) = 144.36(55), P-value < 0.001; CFI = .944, TLI = .921; RMSEA = .050; SRMR = .032, Bollen-Stine bootstrap P-value = 0.004), the reliability of the factors is very poor (composite reliabilities (CR) = .483 to .650). In contrast, the unidimensional faking component exhibited good model fit (X2(df) = 14.15(5), P-value = 0.015; CFI = .984, TLI = .968; RMSEA = .053; SRMR = .011, Bollen-Stine bootstrap P-value = 0.068) and factor reliability (CR = 0.731). Conclusion: The personality component should be revised and revalidated due to poor reliability, despite showing good model fit. In contrast, the faking component showed good model fit and reliability. Further validation studies are recommended before its use among medical degree program applicants.

Translation and Validity of the Malay Version of the Five-Factor Nonverbal Personality Questionnaire (FFNPQ)

“…Each factor had a good reliability, with all reliability values exceeding or close to 0.70 (Table II) Neuroticism and Openness to Experience. The finding was consistent with local studies on different personality inventory that used the same Big Five model tested on a sample of medical students in USM 18,28 and on medical degree program applicants in USM, using the USM Personality Inventory (USMaPi). These two studies also reported five factors at the end of the study.…”

“…27 The MLR estimator is the estimation with robust (Huber-White) standard errors and a scaled test statistic that is asymptotically equal to the Yuan-Bentler test statistic. 27 The factors of FF-NPQ had good reliability as indicated by the reliability coefficients close or exceeding the 0.70, which contradicted the study by Nur Farliza et al 28 where the reliability was poor. However, the reliability in this study was consistent with the study implemented in Czech on psychometric properties of FF-NPQ 30 , which resulted in four scales had good reliability of higher than 0.70 and only Conscientiousness scale had reliability below than 0.70.…”

The roles of emotional intelligence, neuroticism, and academic stress on the relationship between psychological distress and burnout in medical students

“…The 15-item USM Personality Traits Inventory (USMaP-15) measures the five-factor personality traits, which are openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism [ 51 – 53 ]. It is a valid and reliable tool to measure personality traits in medical student samples as it demonstrated a stable internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) that ranged from 0.63–0.83 and a good construct [ 51 , 52 , 54 ], indicating an acceptable to high level of internal consistency and consistency across time intervals and occasions.…”

The outcomes that an interview-based medical school admission process has on academic performance, psychological health, personality traits, and emotional intelligence

“…Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale: 0 (very inaccurate) to 4 (very accurate). Its validity and reliability among medical student samples was well established, as Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.63 to 0.83 and there was good construct validity,22, 30, 37, 38 indicating an acceptable to high level of internal consistency and stability across time intervals and occasions 30…”