Personality Structure of Mexican Americans Using the Comrey Personality Scales

Stress, Coping, and Mexican American Mental Health: A Systematic Review

While there has been a rapid growth in mental health research which focuses on the Mexican American population, differences in theoretical formulations and consequent research methodologies have led to a host of conflicting findings. These conflicting findings are then often difficult to translate into useful clinical applications which would make clinical services more relevant and acceptable to this growing population. One suggested solution to the problem has been to develop more systematic theoretical frameworks for guiding Mexican American mental health research. In this vein a new theoretical model was presented. The model is based upon recent concepts regarding the relationship between psychological stress and consequent physical and/or psychological illnesses. This model includes some important intervening or mediating variables which may serve to aggravate or buffer the aversive impact of exposure to potential stressors. Examination of these intervening variables is of clinical importance in promoting a better understanding of the experience of stress and its relationship to various forms of psychopathology. The model allows for critical examination of those intervening variables which are particularly relevant to Mexican Americans. In addition to presenting this stress-mediation-out-come model, an attempt was made to synthesize extant Mexican American mental health research within the framework of the proposed model. This synthesis served as a basis for identifying conceptual and methodological problems in past research, as well as for identifying current gaps in this large body of research. Finally, an attempt was made to delineate new lines of mental health research which are more consistent with the postulated stress-mediation-outcome model.

Career Assessment and the Comrey Personality Scales

The Comrey Personality Scales (CPS; Comrey, 1970a, 1970b, 1980, 1994) represent a personality inventory developed by factor analytic methods. The personality taxonomy upon which the CPS is based was constructed using a unique set of procedures designed to yield broad factors at an intermediate level in the hierarchy of factors. These procedures involve factor analyzing a collection of mutually distinct Factored Homogeneous Item Dimension (FHID) scores instead of individual items to locate the main personality factors. A FHID score is a total score over four homogeneous seven- choice items, two positively stated and two negatively stated to control for response sets. The eight CPS factors identified in this way are named: Trust versus Defensiveness (T), Orderliness versus Lack of Compulsion (O), Social Conformity versus Rebelliousness (C), Activity versus Lack of Energy (A), Emotional Stability versus Neuroticism (S), Extraversion versus Introversion (E), Mental Toughness versus Sensitivity (M), and Empathy versus Egocentrism (P). The CPS also has a Response Bias (R) scale to detect social desirability responding and a Validity (V) scale to detect invalid records. Many empirical studies are referred to that provide evidence for the factorial, construct, and empirical validity of the CPS scales measuring these factors. Brief summaries are offered for the interpretation of high and low CPS scores for use in career counseling.

Factor Analysis of the Comrey Personality Scales in an Australian Sample

The Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) were administered to a sample of 669 Australians. The 40 subscales that define the eight CPS factors were intercorrelated along with two validation scale scores, age and sex. This matrix of correlations was factor analyzed to determine if the same structure of personality traits previously found in other groups would also hold for Australians. All eight CPS personality factors appeared as expected, showing excellent agreement with past findings in other groups. This agreement in factor structure occurred despite many significant differences in personality factor score means between this sample and the normative group sample. These findings lend additional support to the premise that the eight personality factors measured by the CPS have considerable stability across cultural boundaries.

Personality Factor Structure in Psychiatric Outpatients and Normals

The Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) were administered to 394 psychiatric outpatients. The 40 subscales that define the eight CPS factors were intercorrelated and factor analyzed to determine if the same structure of personality traits fits beth normal and psychologically disturbed individuals. The factor structure in this study was very close to that found previously in six other widely different kinds of populations. These results support a previously stated conclusion that tests of normal personality traits are appropriate for use in assessment with psychologically disturbed individuals.