Australian Validation of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC)

Abstract

The Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC) is a developmentally appropriate parent-report measure of the Five Factor Model (FFM) that has been validated in several European languages but only recently in English. The English translation of the HiPIC was evaluated in an Australian context. Parent-rated HiPIC scores were obtained for 202 children (aged 5–14 years) via an online survey. Exploratory factor analysis indicated five factors that appeared reasonably congruent with the original Flemish HiPIC structure, though with some apparent differences particularly in regard to the Extraversion and Benevolence facets. A Procrustes targeted rotation was used to evaluate the congruence with the original Flemish structure. This indicated encouragingly high congruences for the overall model (.97), as well as high facet and factor congruence (.92–.99). These findings can be taken to reflect the robust nature of the HiPIC model, validating the instrument and more specifically confirming its applicability for use in practice and research investigating children's development and wellbeing in Australia.

Personality Traits Are Associated With Cortical Development Across Adolescence: A Longitudinal Structural MRI Study

“…However, personality research often depends on observer reports because younger children may lack cognitive skills needed to make accurate judgments regarding their own personality (Barenboim, ; De Fruyt & Vollrath, ). Third, we used the parent report version of the HiPIC, which has only been validated for children up to age 14 (Hopkinson, Watt, & Roodenburg, ; Vollrath et al., ), whereas many of our participants were older. A self‐report version exists for older adolescents, but a mixture of self‐ and parent report data could have introduced a systematic bias.…”

Initial Validation and Refinement of the Hierarchical Inventory of Personality for Children in the Australian Context

“…Domain scores for Emotional Stability, Extraversion Imagination, Benevolence, and Conscientiousness are calculated by combining their lower‐order facet scores as indicated in the manual (Mervielde & De Fruyt, ). The HiPIC facets and domains consistently show adequate internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha ranging from .76 (Optimism) to .93 (Conscientiousness) (Hopkinson et al, ).…”

“…The results of the Procrustes rotation indicated high to excellent congruence between the factors and facets across the models, ranging from .94 to .99. These encouraging results were achieved despite identifying some problematic anomalies on reviewing the item translations (Hopkinson et al, ). For example, several items, such as “ likes to let his/her hair down ” were considered vulnerable to ambiguity of meaning, a potential threat to construct validity.…”

“…An English, back‐translated version of the HiPIC has previously been validated in Canada (Tackett et al, ) and more recently Australia (Hopkinson, Watt, & Roodenburg, ). The Canadian study demonstrated discriminant and convergent validity with the ICID.…”