Self-Reported Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism as Predictors of Peer Rated Verbal Aggressiveness and Affinity-Seeking Competence

This study was undertaken to examine whether the relationships reported in the communication literature between Eysenck's BIG THREE personality dimensions and self-reported patterns of communication behavior remain robust when observation-based measures are used in place of self-reports. Target...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communication monographs 2003-03, Vol.70 (1), p.1-15
Main Authors: Heisel, Alan D., La France, Betty H., Beatty, Michael J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Factor Analysis
Path Analysis
Personal relationships
Personality
Personality Measures
Psychology
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This study was undertaken to examine whether the relationships reported in the communication literature between Eysenck's BIG THREE personality dimensions and self-reported patterns of communication behavior remain robust when observation-based measures are used in place of self-reports. Target participants' responses to measures of these three personality dimensions were used to predict peer ratings of two patterns of communication behavior, verbal aggressiveness and affinity-seeking competence. Composite measures for variables were based on the results of confirmatory factor analysis, ensuring both internal and external consistency (parallelism). Results of a path analysis, in which targets' responses to personality measures were employed as exogenous variables and peer ratings of verbal aggressiveness and affinity-seeking competence were used as endogenous variables indicated that these data fit the model extremely well. Importantly, (1) substantial variation in peer rated affinity-seeking competence (R=.55) was attributed to the direct effects of extraversion and neuroticism (negative coefficient), and (2) substantial variation of peer rated verbal aggressiveness (R=.58) was attributable to direct effects of psychoticism and extraversion (negative coefficient) and an indirect effect of extraversion and neuroticism mediated by affinity-seeking competence (negative coefficient). Implications for communication theory and research are discussed.
ISSN:0363-7751
1479-5787
DOI:10.1080/715114665