Development and Initial Validation of the Five-Factor Model Adolescent Personality Questionnaire (FFM-APQ)

Area of Science:

• Psychological assessment
• Developmental psychology
• Personality research

Background:

• The Five-Factor Model (FFM) is a widely accepted framework for personality structure.
• Existing personality measures may not be suitable for adolescents due to complex vocabulary or length.
• There is a need for a brief, valid personality inventory tailored for adolescent populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a brief adolescent personality inventory based on the Five-Factor Model.
• To create a 25-item questionnaire (FFM-APQ) using age-appropriate language for individuals up to 18 years old.
• To establish initial evidence of the FFM-APQ's validity and psychometric properties.

Main Methods:

• A 4-phase development process was employed, starting with item generation and expert review.
• Item analyses were conducted on a sample of 179 adolescents.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on larger samples (N=496 and N=405, respectively) to determine the underlying structure and refine the inventory.
• The final inventory consists of 25 items across 5 subscales.

Main Results:

• The development process resulted in a 25-item Five-Factor Model Adolescent Personality Questionnaire (FFM-APQ).
• Confirmatory factor analyses supported a 5-subscale structure for the FFM-APQ.
• The questionnaire utilizes vocabulary suitable for adolescents up to 18 years of age.

Conclusions:

• The 25-item FFM-APQ is a promising brief measure for assessing adolescent personality within the Five-Factor Model framework.
• The FFM-APQ demonstrates initial validity and a clear 5-subscale structure.
• This tool offers a valuable resource for researchers and clinicians working with adolescent populations.