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.

Keywords::

• developmental personality
• Five-Factor Model
• Procrustes
• model comparison

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to offer thanks to Prof. Filip De Fruyt for granting the Personality, Abilities and Individual Differences research team at Monash University permission to conduct research utilising the English-translated HiPIC in Australia.

Financial Support

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Conflict of Interest

None.

Ethical Standards

This research was approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (project no. CF13/600-2013000240). The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.