Global sex differences in personality: Replication with an open online dataset

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Human Behavior

Background:

• Sex differences in personality are a subject of ongoing scientific debate.
• Previous research using Cattell's 16PF (fifth edition) indicated a large multivariate effect size (D=2.71) for global sex differences in personality.
• Replication of such findings is crucial for validating their robustness and generalizability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate the multigroup covariance and mean structure analysis (MG-MCSA) of global sex differences in personality.
• To validate the findings of Del Giudice et al. (2012) using an open online dataset.
• To investigate the impact of parcel allocation on the robustness of the results.

Main Methods:

• Replication of the original MG-MCSA using an equivalent version of the 16PF questionnaire.
• Analysis of a large dataset of U.S. participants (N=21,567) and a broader dataset of English-speaking participants (N=31,637).
• Parcel-allocation variability analysis to assess the stability of the findings.

Main Results:

• Global sex differences in personality were found to be substantial, with an effect size of D=2.06 in the U.S. and D=2.10 across English-speaking countries.
• Results were robust to variations in parcel allocation, with median effect sizes (D) around 2.09 for the U.S. and 2.17 for English-speaking countries.
• The replicated effect size was comparable to, though slightly smaller than, the original study's findings.

Conclusions:

• The study corroborates the existence of significant global sex differences in personality.
• The findings underscore the reliability of these differences across different samples and analytical variations.
• The results contribute to the ongoing discourse in the psychology of sex differences and highlight the importance of robust analytical methods.