The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire: an examination of the factorial similarity of P, E, N, and L across 34 countries

The factorial similarity of Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E), Neuroticism (N), and Social Desirability (L), as measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, was assessed using gender- specific data collected from 34 countries. As in an earlier study using data from 24 countries (Eysenck et al., 1985), the Kaiser-Hunka-Bianchini (KHB) procedure was utilised as a measure of factorial similarity. However, given the recent evidence concerning the flawed interpretation of the original KHB coefficients, two other coefficients were used to make an assessment of factorial similarity: a congruence coefficient computed from the KHB maximally congruent orthogonalised factors, and a congruence coefficient computed from the oblique factor patterns of the U.K. target and foreign country matrices. The results of these procedures (using the U.K. factor matrices as targets, toward which each country’s factor pattern is rotated) indicated that: (1) the Eysenck factors are strongly replicable across all 34 countries (2) the modified KHB similarity procedure is sound, given the nature of these particular comparisons (3) in comparison to the oblique pattern matrix congruences, those computed over the KHB maximally congruent matrices were found to be optimal both in terms of size and variation. It was concluded that contrary to pessimistic observations made elsewhere, concerning the validity of the factor comparisons based upon ‘original’ KHB coefficients, the analyses in this paper conclusively demonstrate a significant degree of factorial similarity with the U.K. data, across the 34 comparison countries.