The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualization and the development of the Authenticity Scale.

2008/07/01 by Alex M. Wood, P. Alex Linley, John Maltby +2 · 1,212 citations
Psychology · #Alienation #Big Five personality traits #Conceptualization #Confirmatory factor analysis #Developmental psychology #Discriminant validity #Exploratory factor analysis #Internal consistency #Optimism, Hope, and Well-being #Personality #Personality Traits and Psychology #Personality test #Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction #Psychology #Psychometrics #Scale (ratio) #Social psychology #Structural equation modeling #Test (biology) #Test validity

paper · open access · doi:10.1037/0022-0167.55.3.385

published in Journal of Counseling Psychology 55(3), 385-399 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 2008/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

This article describes the development of a measure of dispositional authenticity and tests whether authenticity is related to well-being, as predicted by several counseling psychology perspectives. Scales were designed to measure a tripartite conception of authenticity, comprising self-alienation, authentic living, and accepting external influence, which was supported with exploratory factor analysis. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor loadings were invariant across sample, ethnicity, and gender. The scale showed substantial discriminant validity from the Big Five personality traits, nonsignificant correlations with social desirability, and 2- and 4-week test-retest correlations ranging from r = .78 to .91. Each subscale was strongly related to self-esteem and aspects of both subjective and psychological well-being. This article provides the first direct test of several theoretical models that view authenticity as integral to well-being.

Citations

• Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.
• Uses of factor analysis in counseling psychology research.
• Trait self and true self: Cross-role variation in the Big-Five personality traits and its relations with psychological authenticity and subjective well-being.
• The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography.
• Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.

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Related

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