The HEXACO–Disintegration (HEXACOD) Personality Model in Early and Late Adolescence

Abstract: This study investigated the robustness of the seven-factor HEXACO–Disintegration (HEXACOD) personality model in children and adolescents, across three age groups (10–13, 14–15, and 16–18 years). Using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), we assessed the invariance of the proposed seven-factor model. The results supported the HEXACOD model's metric invariance across age groups. The Disintegration factor lay outside the HEXACO traits, corroborating the claim that the HEXACO model does not capture a wide range of psychotic-like experiences and behaviors (PLEBs). Moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA) also showed stability of the HEXACOD model across ages. Furthermore, the results show that Disintegration presents a trait-like disposition on the same level of coherence and robustness as HEXACO traits even in children and adolescents.