Construct Validity of NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised in Iran

In view of the existing methodological drawbacks in the previous investigations of NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised, the present study aimed at reinvestigating the construct validity of this inventory in Iran. 334 students 231 female and 98 male, 5 not specified) with a mean age of 23.1 were selected via convenience sampling from Tehran, Elm-o-Farhang and Shahid Beheshti Universities, and completed NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised. Inclined rotation and parallel analysis was used for exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in the extraction of five factors, which altogether accounted for 59.25 percent of the total variance of the data. As a result of exploratory factor analysis, a noticeable number of cross-loads and wrongly loaded subscales were observed. Confirmatory factor analysis also resulted in weak to moderate fit indexes. Considering the results of the present study and with regard to the medium and weak alpha coefficients in the Garousi Farshi study, the primary applicability of this questionnaire in the Iranian culture is questionable. It seems that factor analysis at the level of characteristics could be helpful.