A psychometric examination of the French translations of the NEO-PI-R and NEO-FFI

The French translations of the NEO-PI-R and NEO-FFI (Rolland gr Petot, 1994 ) were examined to assess their equivalence to the original English-languag e instruments. Two French samples were employed: college students (N = 447) responding anonymously and military recruits (N = 268) responding as part of their military selection process. Internal reliability of domains on bot h instruments were highly similar to the U.S, normative group, although som e NEO-PI-R facets were not. Factor structures of the NEO-PI-R at the facet level and the NEO-FFI at the item level yielded high congruence coefficient s when target rotated to previously published factor structures from U.S., Canadian, and German samples. Recently developed validity scales (Schinka, Kinder, & Kremer, 1997) were effective at differentiating the self-enhancin g response set of the military recruits. Concerns that a positive presentat ion response set yields a 6-factor rather than a 5-factor solution were not supported by these French samples.