title: Assessing personality traits by questionnaire: psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman personality questionnaire and correlations with psychopathology and hostility.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) was developed in an attempt to define the basic factors of personality or temperament. We aimed to assess the factor structure and the psychometric properties of its Greek version and to explore its relation to psychopathological symptoms and hostility features.
  
  
  METHODS
  ZKPQ was translated into Greek using back-translation and was administered to 1,462 participants (475 healthy participants, 619 medical patients, 177 psychiatric patients and 191 opiate addicts). Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were performed. Symptoms Distress Check-List (SCL-90R) and Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ) were administered to test criterion validity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five factors were identified, largely corresponding to the original version's respective factors. Retest reliabilities were acceptable (rli's: 0.79-0.89) and internal consistency was adequate for Neuroticism-Anxiety (0.87), Impulsive Sensation Seeking (0.80), Aggression-Hostility (0.77) and Activity (0.72), and lower for Sociability (0.64). Most components were able to discriminate psychiatric patients and opiate addicts from healthy participants. Opiate addicts exhibited higher rates on Impulsive Sensation Seeking compared to healthy participants. Neuroticism-Anxiety (p<0.001) and Impulsive Sensation Seeking (p<0.001) were significantly associated with psychological distress and Aggression-Hostility was the most powerful correlate of Total Hostility (p<0.001), and Neuroticism-Anxiety was the stronger correlate of introverted hostility (p<0.001), further supporting the instrument's concurrent validity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Present findings support the applicability of the Greek version of ZKPQ within the Greek population. Future studies could improve its psychometric properties by finding new items, especially for the Sociability scale.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hyphantis
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Antoniou
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: Dg
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Floros
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Greece ; Organization Against Drugs (OKANA), Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valma
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, University of Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pappas
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Athens Medical School, "Attikon" General Hospital, Greece.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Douzenis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Patras School of Medicine, Rion Patras, Greece.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Assimakopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Patras School of Medicine, Rion Patras, Greece.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Iconomou
authors.affiliation: Organization Against Drugs (OKANA), Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kafetzopoulos
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garyfallos
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuhlman
keywords: SCL-90; ZKPQ; Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire; alternative Five-Factor personality model; hostility; psychological distress; sensation seeking