Agreement of Personality Profiles Across Observers.

To assess cross-observer agreement on personality profiles, an Index of Profile Agreement and an associated coefficient, rpa, are proposed which take into account both the difference between the ratings and the extremeness of their mean. Using data from the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), this coefficient is shown to be superior to Cattell's (1949) rp in identifying matched versus mismatched pairs of peer ratings/self-reports (N = 250) and spouse ratings/self-reports (N = 68). Suggestions are made for the interpretation and use of the two measures of profile agreement for group comparisons and for the interpretation of individual cases. Limitations of the coefficients are also discussed.