PERSONALITY FACTORS IN THE EYSENCK PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE

Summary-Hierarchical factor analyses were carried out on raw scored EPQ data yielded from two samples of subjects, a Gallup adult quota sample of 1198 subjects and 406 university under-graduates. Each sample was split by sex providing six data sets for analysis. Results at the second order level clearly indicated the recovery of practically all the E, N and L items as three distinct factors, P item recovery differed among males and females. Adult female and student female subject groups did not show clear recovery of a substantial majority of P items. Although P, as a factor, did not appear recognisably in the male student sample, this was interpreted as being due either to the low subject:variable ratio and/or to the low subject number (N = 171) and its resultant lack of definition of initial P item variance. The P factor appeared most strongly as a second order in the total Gallup, total student, and male Gallup sample. The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) is a relatively new personality inventory, introduced by Eysenck and Eysenck (1975) as a measure of Extraversion (E), Neuroticism/Anxiety (N), Psychoticism (P) and including a Social Desirability scale (L) (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1976; Buros, 1978). The location of factors in hierarchical factor analysis has, however, been open to question, Eysenck (1978) claiming that they generall