Personality Factor Structure among Hare Krishnas

Abstract

The Comrey Personality Scales (CPS) were administered to 226 members of the Hare Krishna movement. Forty subscales defining the 8 CPS factors, 2 validation scale scores, age, and sex, were intercorrelated. A factor analysis of this matrix revealed that 7 of the 8 expected factors of personality, previously found in other groups, also were identified in the responses of Hare Krishnas. Seven expected factors appeared with reasonable clarity. The failure of one factor to emerge, Social Conformity vs Rebelliousness (C), was attributed to the much lower variance of Hare Krishna scores on this personality factor compared to that for other groups. It was concluded that Hare Krishnas may be reasonably described by employing the same CPS personality dimensions found to be appropriate for use with widely different cultural groups in the United States and other countries.