HEXACO Personality Traits in the Africa Long Life Study

This study explores the HEXACO traits and their correlates among 18-year-olds from Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa (N = 1,746). Established HEXACO inventories contain culture-specific phrasing and lack model fit and measurement invariance in African samples. Drawing on the initial maker terms for the HEXACO, we created new, single-adjective HEXACO scales with good fit and measurement invariance across the three countries. Evaluating these scales and their correlations with physical and mental health and religiosity we found that the Honesty, Agreeableness, and Openness scales replicated findings from North America and Europe, while eXtraversion and Emotionality did not, indicating more culturally-specific aspects. Our novel method represents a middle path between an imported, etic scale and a culturally-specific one, demonstrating a promising approach for HEXACO studies across diverse contexts. Our findings provide a foundation for future research on the HEXACO traits and their correlates in Sub-Saharan Africa and many other cultural contexts.