Assessing childhood personality with the Estonian short version of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC)

This study reports the psychometric properties of the Estonian short version of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children (HiPIC), a measure for assessing children's personality traits according to the five-factor model. Personality traits of 2009 Estonian kindergarten and elementary school children (982 boys and 1027 girls) ranging from 2 to 11 years were rated by their primary caregivers. 1087 children were assessed twice, with about a 2-year interval. At the second time, parents additionally completed the Estonian Brief Big Five Inventory (EBBFI). The domain scales of the Estonian HiPIC demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with alphas ranging from 0.73 to 0.84. Test-retest correlations over two years were moderate to high, ranging from 0.57 to 0.69 for domain scales. Factor congruence between the Estonian and the original Flemish version increased as children grew older. Convergent correlations of HiPIC and EBFFI ranged from 0.63 to 0.79 demonstrating a high level of correspondence between the two measures. Analyses of longitudinal changes and cross-sectional differences in mean levels revealed an increase in Benevolence and decreases in Extraversion and Emotional Stability with age. Thus, the Estonian version provided further support for the validity and reliability of the HiPIC.