Factor structure invariance in the children's Big Five questionnaire

The factor structure invariance in the Big Five personality questionnaire was studied based on the self-reports of 852 Spanish children. Different degrees of invariance across age groups from 8 to 15 years old, and also according to gender, were investigated by means of confirmatory factor analysis with a matrix of polychoric correlations. The results provide empirical evidence for the invariant factor structure of the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (BFQ-C) measurement across age and gender in children. The five-factor structure, the factor pattern coefficients, the factor variances/co-variances and, finally, the theoretical constructs were all found to be reasonably invariant across these groups, and especially across gender. The five-factor model adequately represented the data for each of these groups. The implications of these findings are discussed.