The conclusion is clear. The five factors of the FFM, as derived from EFA of the NEO PI-R, represent dimensions of variance shared by the 30 facet scales. They are not latent variables that “underlie” variation on the facet scales (and results are similar for other comprehensive models; Church & Burke, 1994; Markon et al., 2005). The five factors of the FFM provide useful, integrative knowledge about the covariance of personality traits, just as do other comprehensive models. But the factors cannot represent cohesive, homogeneous, theoretically active psychological entities.
