Towards a personality model encompassing a Disintegration factor separate from the Big Five traits: A meta-analysis of the empirical evidence

Abstract

Relying on a recent re-conceptualization of psychosis proneness as a personality trait, its relations with the Big Five traits were investigated in a meta-analytic study. This re-conceptualized trait - named Disintegration - is articulated as a broad, hierarchically organized, nine-faceted behavioral disposition. Disintegration is postulated to be a basic personality trait distinct from the Big Five traits. In accordance with this conceptualization, all the articles considered for this meta-analysis carry information on the relationship between Disintegration-like phenomena (referring to various aspects of symptomatology with prefix 'schizo-', both at the clinical and the sub-clinical level), and at least one Big Five trait. The benchmark for assuming distinctness of the trait Disintegration was .40, based on the meta-analytically derived correlations found among the Big Five traits. By computing inverse sampling variance weighted mean correlation coefficients under a random-effects assumption, the following associations were found between Disintegration and N, E, O, A, and C, respectively: .24, -.27, 0, -.19, and -13. The differences in true correlations between the studies were substantial for each coefficient Three variables were found to moderate Disintegration-personality correlations. The finding about the distinctness of Disintegration from other personality traits can have repercussions on the taxonomy of traits.