Personality Factor Structure in Psychiatric Outpatients and Normals.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Personality Assessment

Background:

• The Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) are established measures of personality traits.
• Previous research suggests personality structures may be consistent across different populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if the factor structure of the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) is consistent between psychologically disturbed individuals and the general population.
• To validate the use of normal personality trait assessments for clinical populations.

Main Methods:

• Administered the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) to 394 psychiatric outpatients.
• Intercorrelated and factor analyzed the 40 subscales of the CPS.
• Compared the resulting factor structure to previous findings in diverse populations.

Main Results:

• The factor structure derived from psychiatric outpatients closely matched structures found in previous studies of diverse populations.
• The eight CPS factors demonstrated a consistent structure.

Conclusions:

• The findings support the conclusion that tests of normal personality traits are appropriate for assessing psychologically disturbed individuals.
• The Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) exhibit a robust personality structure applicable across clinical and non-clinical groups.