Relations Among Political Attitudes, Personality, and Psychopathology Assessed With New Measures of Libertarianism and Conservatism

Abstract

The relation between new Libertarianism-Totalitarianism and Conservatism-Liberalism scales was explored in four studies. The Libertarianism and Conservatism scales were free of social desirability bias. Results consistently showed that conservatives were more libertarian (or less totalitarian) than moderates and liberals, with the latter two groups not differing significantly. Political orientations were also explored in relation to three general systems of personality description: the Big Five personality factors, the nurturance and dominance factors of the Circumplex, and the Pleasure-Arousability-Dominance (PAD) Temperament Model. Across four studies, the Libertarianism and Conservatism scales were consistently and strikingly unrelated to personality and temperament factors; nor were they related to measures of psychological adjustment-maladjustment (depression, trait anxiety, panic, somatization) or to measures of substance abuse (alcohol use and ding use).