Short Version of the Big Five Inventory: Testing for the Factorial Invariance across Parents with Normal and Exceptional Children

Abstract

This study aims at testing the factor structure and the invariance measurement of the Short Version of the Big Five Inventory (BFI-SV) between two groups of parents, those with normal children and parents with exceptional ones. Eight hundred parents (400 parents with normal children and 400 parents with exceptional children) responded to the short version of the Big Five Inventory ofPersonality Index (BFI-SV), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Positive and Negative Affect Schedules (PANAS). To examine the factor structure of BFI-SV, confirmatory factor analysis has been used; to evaluate BFI-SV Invariant factor structure in the two groups of parents, multi-groups confirmatory factor analysis was used, and finally, to evaluate the convergent validity of subscales of BFI-SV, the correlation coefficients among personality factors with Mental Well-Being Scales (SWLS and PANAS) were used. Confirmatory factor analysis fitting indices based on LISREL software, confirmed the existence of five factors, neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness in the two groups of parents. BFI-SV cross-group validity results showed the equivalence of five-factor structure of BFI-SV in the two groups. The correlation coefficients between personality traits in BFI-SV with the mental well-being scales, confirmed the convergent validity of CISS-SF.The results of the present study show the equivalence between factor structure of the list of the short version of the five big factors of personality and the validity of this list to assess personality traits in the two groups of parents.