Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil.
The psychometric properties of the Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) for Afrikaans
speaking university students were examined. The CPS and the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) were completed by 804 first year university students in Afrikaans. The CPS was translated into Afrikaans by the translation-back translation method. Scores for the 40 subscales of the CPS were subjected to an exploratory factor analysis. Nine factors were extracted and orthogonally rotated with the Tandem Criteria. Subsequently, the factors were compared with the eight factors obtained in the original normative study by means of coefficients of congruence. Six of the factors, namely Trust versus Defensiveness, Orderliness versus Lack of Compulsion, Emotional Stability versus Neuroticism, Extroversion versus introversion, Mental Toughness versus Emotional Sensitivity, and Empathy versus Egocentrism, showed congruence coefficients of 0,90 or higher. The Social Conformity versus Rebelliousness factor was clearly recognisable in the Afrikaans speaking sample, but the congruence coefficient was only 0,81. The Activity versus Lack of Energy factor split in two and one of these factors was very similar to the normative Activity factor, with a congruence coefficient of 0,89. The CPS subscales were also subjected to a multiple group confirmatory factor analysis wherein the measurement invariance of the CPS for Afrikaans speaking students and the normative American group was assessed. The results confirmed that the CPS measures the same constructs in the two groups, but the variance of the Afrikaans group for the Social Conformity versus Rebelliousness factor was much smaller than that of the American group. The measurement invariance of the CPS for
Afrikaans speaking males and females was also assessed. The multiple groups
confirmatory factor analysis supported the measurement invariance of the CPS for
males and females. Subsequently, the mean scores of American male students and
the Afrikaans speaking male students for the CPS were compared. The Afrikaans
speaking students obtained higher scores for Social Conformity versus Rebelliousness and lower scores for Trust versus Defensiveness than their American counterparts. Similar results were obtained for the Afrikaans speaking and American females. The mean scores of the Afrikaans speaking males and females were also compared. The comparison of the males and females revealed that the males had higher Mental Toughness versus Emotional Sensitivity scores. The females had higher scores for Empathy versus Egocentrism, Trust versus Defensiveness, Orderliness versus Lack of Compulsion, and Social Conformity versus Rebelliousness. In the last place the CPS and the 16PF scales were subjected to an interbattery factor analysis. Six factors were extracted and orthogonally rotated. The rotated factors supported the construct validity of the CPS and 16PF scales and also provided support for four of the so-called Big Five
factors of personality.