Description

The Personality Traits Test (PTT-1.057 / TPQue) is a comprehensive Greek personality assessment instrument developed by I. Tsaousis. Its purpose is the detailed examination of an individual’s personality.

The TPQue is based on the Five-Factor Model of personality (Big Five) and assesses five major personality dimensions: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. The instrument contains 180 items representing the five major personality factors, together with an additional 26 validity-related items.

Purpose

The main purpose of the PTT-1.057 is to provide a detailed assessment of personality structure and to examine how major personality traits are expressed in everyday functioning, including family life, work settings, and social activities.

Its multidimensional structure allows both a broad evaluation of the five major personality factors and a more detailed examination of specific personality characteristics.

Scale Structure

Each of the five main personality dimensions consists of 36 items and is further divided into 6 separate subscales. Overall, the instrument includes 30 subscales, providing a more detailed profile of the characteristics underlying each major personality factor.

The five major dimensions are:

Extraversion, referring to sociability, activity, and interpersonal engagement.

Neuroticism, related to emotional instability and the tendency to experience negative emotions.

Openness to Experience, reflecting curiosity, imagination, and interest in new ideas and experiences.

Agreeableness, associated with cooperation, trust, and a positive interpersonal orientation.

Conscientiousness, reflecting responsibility, organization, self-discipline, and goal-directed behavior.

Normative Sample

The psychometric evaluation of the instrument was based on a sample of 1,057 individuals. Normative scores are available in both T-scores and percentile values, with separate norms for men and women, as well as for the general population, university students, and adolescent students.

These separate normative groups support more targeted interpretation of an individual’s personality profile.

Scoring

Assessment is conducted at two levels. At the first level, scores are calculated for the five major personality scales by summing responses across the 36 items belonging to each scale. At the second level, scores are calculated for the 30 subscales, each based on 6 items.

The TPQue also provides an electronic scoring system for all scales and an electronic version of the individual personality profile.

Validity

The available research material supports the use of the TPQue for assessing personality structure in the Greek population. Evidence of concurrent validity has been reported through associations with other personality measures based on the Five-Factor Model, including the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and Big Five Factor Markers (BFFM).

Construct validity is also supported by associations with personality instruments based on other theoretical frameworks, including the EPQ, 16PF, and MMPI, as well as with variables such as emotional intelligence, psychological well-being, occupational stress, career decision-making, social skills, and organizational culture.

Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses also supported the structural correspondence of the instrument with the Five-Factor Model.

Reliability

Internal consistency reliability for the five major scales is reported to range from 0.78 to 0.89. The source material also reports high reliability coefficients for the 30 subscales, supporting the consistency of the instrument’s more detailed personality measurements.

Research and Applied Uses

The PTT-1.057 may be used in research examining personality, occupational behavior, social skills, psychological well-being, work-related stress, and career decision-making.

Its detailed 30-subscale structure makes it particularly useful when a more refined analysis of individual differences is required beyond a general assessment of the five major personality factors.

References

Tsaousis, I. (1999). The Traits Personality Questionnaire (TPQue): A Greek measure for the five-factor model. Personality and Individual Differences, 26, 271–283.

Tsaousis, I. (2002). The Traits Personality Questionnaire (TPQue). In B. De Raad & M. Perugini (Eds.), Big Five Assessment. Hogrefe & Huber.