The Validity and Structure of Culture-Level Personality Scores: Data from Ratings of Young Adolescents

We examined properties of culture-level personality traits in ratings of targets (N=5,109) ages 12 to 17 in 24 cultures. Aggregate scores were generalizable across gender, age, and relationship groups and showed convergence with culture-level scores from previous studies of self-reports and observer ratings of adults, but they were unrelated to national character stereotypes. Trait profiles also showed cross-study agreement within most cultures, 8 of which had not previously been studied. Multidimensional scaling showed that Western and non-Western cultures clustered along a dimension related to Extraversion. A culture-level factor analysis replicated earlier findings of a broad Extraversion factor but generally resembled the factor structure found in individuals. Continued analysis of aggregate personality scores is warranted. This is the peer-reviewed version of the article: McCrae, R. R.; Terracciano, A.; De Fruyt, F.; De Bolle, M.; Gelfand, M. J.; Costa, P. T.; Aguilar-Vafaie, M. E.; Ahn, C.-K.; Ahn, H.; Alcalay, L.; Allik, J.; Avdeyeva, T. V.; Blatny, M.; Bratko, D.; Brunner-Sciarra, M.; Cain, T. R.; Chittcharat, N.; Crawford, J. T.; de Lima, M. P.; Fehr, R.; Fickova, E.; Gulgoz, S.; Hrebickova, M.; Jussim, L.; Klinkosz, W.; Knežević, G.; de Figueroa, N. L.; Loeckenhoff, C. E.; Martin, T. A.; Marušić, I.; Mastor, K. A.; Nakazato, K.; Nansubuga, F.; Porrata, J.; Purić, D.; Realo, A.; Reategui, N.; Rolland, J.-P.; Schmidt, V.; Sekowski, A.; Shakespeare-Finch, J.; Shimonaka, Y.; Simonetti, F.; Siuta, J.; Szmigielska, B.; Vanno, V.; Wang, L.; Yik, M. The Validity and Structure of Culture-Level Personality Scores: Data From Ratings of Young Adolescents. Journal of Personality 2010, 78 (3), 815–838. [https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00634.x]