Neo Personality Inventory

The NEO Personality Inventory–Revised (NEO PI-R; published by Psychological Assessment Resources) is a revision of the NEO PI first published by Paul Costa and Robert McCrae in 1985. The instrument was constructed to measure the “Big Five” personality domains: neuroticism, extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. In addition to the global measures of these domains, the NEO PI-R includes 30 facet scales, which are subscales related to each of the five major domains.

Two versions of the test booklet are available: a self-report version (Form S) and an observer-report version (Form R). The item content of the two versions is identical, but questions are worded in the first person in Form S and in the third person in Form R. The options of hand scoring and machine scoring are available for both forms, and a computer-based version of the NEO PI-R, which includes administration, scoring, and interpretation, is also available. The most recent manual has been translated into 12 languages other than English.

The NEO PI-R is recommended for use with persons 17 years old and older who do not have psychological disorders that would impair completion of a self-reported measure. Recent research, which included the rewording of some items to increase understanding by adolescents, suggested the NEO PI-R also may be useful with students in high school. To interpret scores, an extensive norm group that includes men and women, including those of[Page 680] college age, has been collected. The college-age sampleisrecommendedforusewithtesttakersbetween the ages of 17 and 20 because of elevated scores on the excitement-seeking scale for this age group.

Evidence of validity and reliability has been collected for the NEO PI-R. Extensive research about the structure of the factors (construct validity), as well as correlational data with other measures of personality (convergent validity) and theoretically unrelated constructs (discriminant validity), has been published.

Short-term test-retest reliability coefficients are around .80 for each of the five domains. A 6-year testretest study found stability coefficients of .68 to .83 for neuroticism, extroversion, and openness. Another study, spanning 7 years, found stability coefficients ranging from .63 to .81 for all five domains. Interitem reliability alpha coefficients for the facet scales range from .86 to .92 for Form S and from .89 to .95 for Form R.

The NEO PI-R has many uses for clients, counselors, and researchers, including increasing clients' self-awareness and helping counselors develop appropriate treatment plans. Additionally, results from a self-report that diverge from a significant other's ratings can give clients insight into the way in which others see them. Coupled with vocational assessments, the NEO PI-R can help clients and counselors discuss possible career decisions on the basis of clients' personality and interests. Furthermore, researchers can benefit by including a measure of personality in their studies.