A cross-cultural examination of Howarth's primary factors and Eysenck's secondary factors among Zimbabwean adolescents

Abstract

The reliability, cross-cultural transferability and comprehensiveness of the Howarth Personality Questionnaire (HPQ), a primary factor measure, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) a secondary factor inventory, were compared among 1354 (690 female, 664 male) Zimbabwean adolescents. Mean EPQ scale reliabilities were 0.72 (males) and 0.71 (females) and mean HPQ scale reliabilities were 0.55 (males) and 0.56 (females). All Eysenck's secondary-factors emerged from factor analysis of EPQ items among both sexes but only six (males) and four (females) of Howarth's 10 primary factors were identified in factor analysis of HPQ items. Canonical redundancy indices revealed that Howarth's scales predicted about 45% (43.8% among males and 45.5% among females) of the variance in Eysenck's scales and Eysenck's scales predicted roughly 28% (27.6% among males and 27.8% among females) of the variance in Howarth's scales. It is concluded that the wider scope of the HPQ does not outweigh the greater reliability and robustness of the EPQ.