The Big Five Inventory (BFI). Reliability and validity of its Italian translation in three independent nonclinical samples

The internal consistency reliability, factor structure, and convergent-discriminant validity of the Italian translation of the Big Five Inventory (BFI) were assessed in two independent samples of nonclinical adult volunteers (Sample 1: N = 500; Sample 2: N = 316) and in one sample of adolescent volunteers (Sample 3: N = 223). Two adult subsamples (n = 70, and n = 141, respectively) also provided 2-month retest reliability data. The internal consistency reliabilities were adequate for all five BFI scales (mean α values were .77, .78, and .81 for Sample 1, Sample 2, and Sample 3, respectively); all test-retest correlations were greater than .75 in both adult participant subsamples. Principal component analyses showed that only the first five components of the BFI item correlation matrix could be reproduced safely across the three samples. The BFI scales showed adequate convergent-discriminant validity coefficients in all three samples. These findings suggest that the BFI is a succinct measure of the Big Five personality traits and it provides satisfactory reliability and validity data.