An examination of personality characteristics related to acquiescence.

Acquiescence, the tendency to agree with statements regardless of content, is often a concern when administering self-report instruments. While there is evidence to support acquiescence as a response style, this reporting tendency may be related to personality factors of individuals. Using a sample of 757 adults, we investigated the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale for acquiescence response tendencies by applying the Rasch partial credit model. Results suggested that favorable (i.e., Agree or Strongly Agree) responses were more frequent for the positively worded items than for negatively worded items. Second, the relationship between acquiescence and seven additional personality measures was examined overall and by sex. Among females, acquiescence was correlated with personality measures measuring perceptions by others, whereas acquiescence among males was related to exhibition types of behaviors.