Examining the Measurement Model of International Posture and How It Relates to Personality Traits

Abstract

This study had two aims: to attempt to verify the construct validity of the measure of international posture—which refers to attitudes toward the international community—in foreign language education and to explore how international posture structurally relates to personality traits. A total of 163 Japanese undergraduate students participated in the study. To examine the first aim, exploratory factor analysis was conducted, followed by confirmatory factor analysis. Results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that three latent constructs were extracted from 23 items of the measure. Next, confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the constructs with the fit indices except the chi-square score. To investigate the second aim, structural equation modeling was used. It showed that two personality traits—openness to experience and extraversion—were strongly associated with international posture. Furthermore, our study indicated a second-order configuration structured in the verified measure in relation to the two personality traits.