Exploratory and confirmatory tests of the big five and Tellegen's three- and four-dimensional models

Using about 600 college students and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, three models of personality structure were tested: the Big Five, as measured by the NEO Personality Inventory (P.T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1985), and A. Tellegen's (1985) three- and four-dimensional models, as measured by the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (A. Tellegen, 1982). Both factor methods indicated considerable support for, but also some divergences from, the models. We concluded that parsimonious personality models are unlikely to meet conventional goodness-of-fit criteria in confirmatory factor analysis, because of the limited simple structure of personality measures and the personality domain itself. Poor fits of a priori models highlighted not only the limited specificity of personality structure theory, but also the limitations of confirmatory factor analysis for testing personality structure models.