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To Profile or Not to Profile: A Multiinformant Study of the Robustness and Utility of Personality-Based Profiles on a Large Biobank Sample

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Person-centered personality profiles are widely used to examine latent covariation patterns in heterogeneous samples. However, their robustness across measurement and analytic choices and incremental utility beyond continuous traits remain controversial. We leveraged a well-powered ( N = 73,563), multiinformant, multitrait data set to establish personality profiles based on self-regulation domains and individual items. Item-level latent-profile analyses yielded the best model fit and differentiated between five distinct profiles: high-functioning, well-adapted, anxious-perfectionistic, behaviorally dysregulated, and emotionally/behaviorally dysregulated. Profile structure was configurally robust, but individual profile memberships showed only moderate cross-informant agreement. Profiles significantly predicted life satisfaction and internalizing problems, although less in cross-informant comparisons, and continuous personality traits consistently out-predicted profiles. Together, these findings emphasize that self-regulation profiles are replicable and consistently tied to external validation variables yet have suboptimal predictive value compared with traits. Hence, profiles could primarily be used as aids for detecting and describing unique trait configurations instead.

Source: Clinical Psychological Science

DOI: 10.1177/21677026261458812

Authors: Helo Liis Soodla, Uku Vainik, René Mõttus, Kirsti Akkermann

Institutions: University of Tartu, McGill University, University of Edinburgh

Language: English

Topic: Personality Traits and Psychology

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,900