Could Five Factor Personality Inventory Be Used for The Purpose of Symptom Screening in a Non-Clinical Sample?: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

This study investigated whether Five Factor Personality Inventory (5FKE) can be used for symptom screening purposes in a non-clinical sample. A total of 165 people 103 women (62.4%) and 62 men (37.6%) between the ages of 18-54 years participated in the study. The internal consistency for factors of 5FKE was found between 0.85 and 0.91, while for sub-scales of Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R) it was between 0.69 and 0.91. Correlation coefficients between three sub-scales of SCL-90-R and the factors of 5FKE were as follows: Global Severity Index correlations with Openness to Experience was -0.17, with Conscientiousness 0.28, with Agreeableness -0.35, and with Emotional Instability it was 0.65; Positive Symptom Total correlations with Openness to Experience was -0.10, with Conscientiousness -0.20, with Agreeableness -0.23, and with Emotional Instability it was 0.57; Positive Symptom Distress Index correlations with Openness to Experience was -0.14, with Conscientiousness -0.28, with Agreeableness -0.33, and with Emotional Instability it was 0.51. Extraversion factor of 5FKE showed insignificant and weak correlations with all three sub-scales of SCL-90-R. Regression analysis calculated to infer total scores of three sub-scales of SCL-90-R showed that only the factor score of Emotional Instability inferred the total score of Global Symptom Index of SCL-90-R significantly. The results of this study gave clues that the 5FKE particularly “Emotional Instability” factor could be used for screening purposes in a non-clinical sample. However, the results also revealed that the issue should be investigated in more detail.