A confirmatory factor analysis of the Mini-IPIP five-factor model personality scale

The Mini-IPIP personality scale is a recently developed short measure of the five-factor model personality traits, derived from items in the International Personality Item Pool (Goldberg, 1999). The aim in this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Mini-IPIP using factor analysis. 415 male and 1066 female participants completed the Mini-IPIP via the Internet. A five-factor confirmatory model of the measure showed only poor to moderate model fit, while alternative four and two factor confirmatory models of the data showed poor model fit. Despite this, a subsequent exploratory factor analysis of the measure indicated support for a five-factor structure and showed that nearly all items had minimal cross-loadings on non-target factors. The potential use of the Mini-IPIP in personality research is briefly discussed.