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Exploratory Factor Analysis of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, the Hopkins and Post Traumatic Stress Checklists

Fawziyah A. Al-Turkait, Jude U. Ohaeri

Med Sci Tech 2014; 55:56-65

DOI: 10.12659/MST.892175

Available online: 2014-10-10

Published: 2014-10-10


Background: Although the personality dimensions in the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) have been replicated, the literature is silent about whether they are distinct enough to stand out when jointly analyzed with items of related phenomena, such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD. There are no reports on the item-level exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the adult version of the EPQ from the Arab world. The objectives of the study were, using EFA, to assess the factor structure of the 90-item EPQ in an Arab sample and to see whether the resulting factors would remain distinct when jointly analyzed with items representing psychopathology.
Material and Methods: Participants (N=624) were Kuwaiti college students who completed the EPQ, Hopkins Symptoms Checklist, and the PTSD Checklist (PCL). EFA was by principal axis factoring. Secondary factor analysis involved total scores of the personality and psychopathology dimensions.
Results: In the EFA for the EPQ, the 4 factors that emerged were consistent with: neuroticism; psychoticism; extraversion; and lie scale. In the EFA for the PCL, the emergent factors were arousal, re-experiencing, “avoidance-mental”, and “avoidance-emotional”. In the joint EFA with EPQ and anxiety/depression, there was a distinct psychopathology factor, along with distinct domains for neuroticism, extraversion, and the lie scale, but none for psychoticism. In the joint EFA with EPQ and PCL items, 5 factors emerged: PTSD, psychoticism, extraversion, neuroticism, and lie scale.
In secondary factor analysis, 2 factors emerged: “psychopathology and neuroticism vs. extraversion”; and “tough-mindedness vs. social desirability”. Gender patterns were similar.
Conclusions: In the midst of related psychopathological phenomena, personality dimensions remained distinct, and gender patterns were similar, thereby supporting the search for the biological bases of personality traits.

Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Personality Inventory, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic



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