A profile of personality for a Russian sample: as indicated by the Comrey Personality Scales

The purpose of our study was to present a personality profile, based on data from the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS), for a diverse, Russian sample. The CPS was administered to 457 subjects drawn from convenience samples throughout St. Petersburg, Russia. In Part 1 of the study, the structure of the Russian sample's personality was identified. Data from the CPS were factor analyzed. Findings showed strong support for the generalizability of Comrey's (1970) eight-factor personality taxonomy to this sample. The CPS's factors derived from the Russians were compared and found to be similar in structure to samples derived from American, Australian, Brazilian, Israeli, Italian, and New Zealand samples. In Part 2, mean differences on the CPS's scales between the Russian sample and the American sample were assessed. Results showed that although the structure of the Russians' personality was similar to that of the Americans' personality, significant differences in the elevation of scale scores did exist. For example, as a whole, the Russians tended to be more defensive, lethargic, egocentric, and unstable. Contrary to popular expectations, however, the Russians were not more conforming.