Validating the Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS) and the Short Form (BFAS-40) in German, French, and Italian

Personality traits predict health, well-being, relationship success, and work-related outcomes, but most of the relevant evidence comes from English-speaking populations. The Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS) are one of the most used English-language personality questionnaires, allowing to assess Big Five domains and aspects validly and reliably. In the present study, we validated German, French, and Italian translations of the BFAS and the short-form (BFAS-40) in a representative sample of Swiss adults ( N = 4,492). Across the three languages, the translations of the BFAS and the BFAS-40 showed satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of their factorial validity, reliability, and convergence of short- and long-version. Furthermore, we found partial weak measurement invariance across the three languages for all aspects and domains and strong invariance for some aspects. Finally, in line with existing research, aspects belonging to the same Big Five domain differed in their associations with external variables like political orientation and life satisfaction. The translations of the BFAS and the BFAS-40 may thus facilitate future research on personality traits in non-English speaking samples.