Assessing personality traits by questionnaire: psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman personality questionnaire and correlations with psychopathology and hostility.

Background: The Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) was developed in an attempt to define the basic factors of personality or temperament. We aimed to assess the factor structure and the psychometric properties of its Greek version and to explore its relation to psychopathological symptoms and hostility features. Methods: ZKPQ was translated into Greek using back-translation and was administered to 1,462 participants (475 healthy participants, 619 medical patients, 177 psychiatric patients and 191 opiate addicts). Confirmatory and explor atory factor analyses were performed. Symptoms Distress Check-List (SCL-90R) and Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ) were administered to test criterion validity. Results: Five factors were identified, largely corresponding to the original version’s respective factors. Retest reliabili ties were acceptable (r 1i ’s: 0.79-0.89) and internal consistency was adequate for Neuroticism-Anxiety (0.87), Impulsive Sensation Seeking (0.80), Aggression-Hostility (0.77) and Activity (0.72), and lower for Sociability (0.64). Most components were able to discriminate psychiatric patients and opiate addicts from healthy participants. Opiate addicts exhibited higher rates on Impulsive Sensation Seeking compared to healthy participants. Neuroticism-Anxiety (p<0.001) and Impulsive Sensation Seeking (p<0.001) were significantly associated with psychological distress and Aggression-Hostility was the most powerful correlate of Total Hostility (p<0.001), and Neuroticism-Anxiety was the stronger correlate of introverted hostility (p<0.001), further supporting the instrument’s concurrent validity. Conclusions: Present findings support the applicability of the Greek version of ZKPQ within the Greek population. Future studies could improve its psychometric properties by finding new items, especially for the Sociability scale. Hippokratia 2013; 17 (4): 342-350