Personality assessment in a diverse urban sample

In the present research, the authors examined the data quality and replicability of the revised NEO personality inventory (NEO-PI-R) factor structure in a sample that varied in ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and literacy. Participants (N = 546), drawn from the Healthy aging in neighborhoods of diversity across the life span study, were African American (58%) and white (42%) urban dwellers living above (49%) and below (51%) 125% of the federal poverty line. The NEO-PI-R, administered via telephone, was evaluated for data quality (percent valid, acquiescence, internal consistency), congruence with the normative factor structure, and readability. All indices of data quality and factor congruence were excellent in the full sample. Literacy was the most consistent predictor of data quality. A slightly worse structure was found for the Openness to Experience and Extraversion factors among lower socioeconomic status African American and white participants. The overall index of factor congruence, however, supports replication of the normative structure well beyond chance levels even among those with lower literacy. Despite the challenges of low literacy, the present findings indicate that personality traits can be assessed reliably in socioeconomically diverse populations that include those living in poverty.