Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire
The MPQ is a broadband measure of normal-range personality traits. Featuring new nationally representative normative data and updated scales, the MPQ utilizes a long history of research and can be used for preemployment screening for public safety positions.
TEST AUTHORS: Auke Tellegen, Ph.D., Martin Sellbom, Ph.D., John Kamp, Ph.D., Richard Handel, Ph.D.
PUBLISHER: University of Minnesota Press
DISTRIBUTOR: Pearson Assessments
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 2023
Administration: Paper and Q-global
Length: 256 True-False items
Administration Time: 25-45 minutes
Minimum Reading Level: 5th grade (Flesch-Kincaid)
Age: 18 years and older
Norm Group: Nationally representative norms. Designed to match 2020 U.S. census projections for gender, age, race/ethnicity, and education, the MPQ normative sample includes 1,000 individuals ages 18 and older from diverse communities throughout the United States.
To learn more about the MPQ, please visit PearsonAssessments.com/MPQ.
Learn more about the MPQ Police Preemployment Interpretive Report.
The 256-item MPQ consists of 17 scales:
Validity Scales
Higher-Order (H-O) Scales
Primary Trait Scales
Validity Scales
VRIN — Variable Response Inconsistency — Random responding
TRIN — True Response Inconsistency — Fixed responding
UV – Unlikely Virtues – Underreporting/positive impression management
Higher-Order (H-O) Scales
PEM — Positive Emotionally — Broad tendency toward positive emotions and active engagement
NEM – Negative Emotionality — Broad tendency toward negative emotions and adversarial interpersonal relations
CON – Constraint — Broad tendency toward being planful, cautious, and conventional
Primary Trait Scales
WB – Wellbeing – Cheerful, enthusiastic, optimistic
SP – Social Potency – Enjoys taking charge in social situations
AC – Achievement – Values and exhibits persistence and hard work
SC – Social Closeness – Values being with people and close interpersonal relationships
SR – Stress Reaction – Frequently experiences anxiety and similar emotions
AL – Alienation – Feels a victim of the malevolent wishes and actions of others
AG – Aggression – Enjoys and engages in physical and/or verbal aggression
CL – Control – Deliberate, careful, planful, self-controlled
HA – Harmavoidance – Prefers safer experiences, even if unpleasant, to more dangerous ones
TR – Traditionalism – Believes in traditional values regarding morality and propriety
AB – Absorption – Easily caught up in sensory and imaginative experiences
Spring 2024
It is the publisher’s intention to provide a current and comprehensive list of references to publications on the MPQ. Therefore, the MPQ Reference List is updated as new publications appear.