Confounded versus nonconfounded correlations among the neo-personality inventory's domain and facet scales

The 18 subscales constituting the Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness domain scales of Costa and McCrae's NEO-Personality Inventory were correlated with all five NEO-PI domain measures using data from 303 university students. Their residual domain scale scores correlated less than .50 with those on nine facet scales. A divergent domain scale correlated + or - .30 or more with 11 facets, including correlations of -.34 or more by Conscientiousness with the Impulsiveness, Vulnerability, and Depression facets of neuroticism. These latter values were even stronger in the NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised. The correlation of a facet scale with its preassigned residual domain scale and with a divergent domain scale did not differ significantly in 6 of the 18 cases. Unconfounded (part vs whole-minus-part) correlations had a median value of .52 versus .68 for their confounded (part vs whole) counterparts. A full report of unconfounded correlations clarifies the structure of composite personality measures.