Sex differences in the 16PF5, test of measurement invariance and mean differences in the US standardisation sample

Sex differences in personality, though widely commented on, have rarely been investigated either outside of the Five Factor Model, or using the most sophisticated methodologies. The current article looks to address this gap in research by applying Multi-Group Covariance and Means Structural Analysis (MG-CMSA) to the US standardisation sample (n = 10,261) of the 16PF5. The results indicated that the assumptions of measurement invariance do not hold for the global scales of the 16PF5. Consequently, mean differences were only investigated in the 15 primary personality scales. Women reported substantially higher levels of Sensitivity (d = −2.29) and Warmth (d = −.89). Moderate sex differences were located in a number of further scales. Women reported higher levels of Apprehension (d = −.60) whilst men reported higher levels of Emotional Stability (d = .53), Dominance (d = .54), and Vigilance (d = .36). These differences were shown to be systematically larger than estimates of mean differences in the same scales from observed scores.