The PPTQ-C was designed to provide an alternate measure of personality traits for children based on the Big Five model, using images within a questionnaire to help illustrate the traits as opposed to the traditional questionnaire methods.

Published in 2016, the PPTQ-C was designed specifically for children aged 7-13 years old using a Polish sample of 1028 children. There are 15 items on the questionnaires, which are responded to on a 3-point (for younger children, 7-9 years old) or 5-point (for older children, 10-13 years old) scale. (Maćkiewicz & Cieciuch, 2016)

The basis behind the pictorial design is that it was suggested the personality measure itself needed to be adjusted to better meet children’s developmental levels. It is suggest that many children may have difficulties, or lose interest completing word-based questionnaires, which may result in incomplete or inaccurate data. The PPTQ-C attempted to provide an alternative by using clear and simple images representing each end of the factors (eg. Extraversion vs Introversion), with a clear scale in between.

Convergence validity was demonstrated between the PPTQ-C and the Big Five Questionnaire for Children (BFQ-C) using a multitrait-multimethod analysis, suggesting the PPTQ-C to be a valid measurement of personality traits in young children. Structural validity was established through Exploratory Structural Equation Model. However openness to experience was the weakest fit in both groups with the lowest reliability estimates. This is thought to be as the factor itself includes abstract ideas that are quite hard to represent in the form of a simple image.  Or possibly the trait itself is not well differentiated in childhood (Mervielde et al., 1995); or better-observed using observer-reports instead of self-reports.  The other 4 factors reported acceptable reliability. The test/retest was not reported. No cross-cultural validations have been conducted as of yet.

The PPTQ-C is available online through the PsychTEST database. The test is intended for research purposes and no permission is required for research or teaching use.

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