Validation of the biosocial model of personality: Confirmatory factor analysis of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire.

Abstract

The theoretical parameters of the biosocial model of personality that underlie the item domain of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ; C. R. Cloninger 1987a, 1987b) were assessed with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Using a large sample of community-based adults (n = 360) and undergraduate students (= 233), CFA was used to examine the relationship between the items and their correspondent subscales, as well as the relationship between the subscales and their correspondent personality domain. Results indicated that the items composing the 4 subscales for each ofthe 3 personality domains matched the underlying theoretical model and that the 12 subscales that comprise the 3 personality domains decomposed into 3 dimensions theoretically consistent with the biosocial model of personality.