Neurotic Personality Questionnaire (KON2006)

Item Content

Items cover a range of experiences, such as:

• Frequent worries about health or safety.
• Feelings of irritability or emotional outbursts.
• Physical symptoms without clear medical cause (e.g., headaches, stomachaches).
• Difficulty coping with everyday stressors.

Scoring

Scoring is straightforward:

1. Sum the values of all 48 items.
2. Higher totals indicate greater neurotic proneness.
3. Cutoff points are provided in the manual (e.g., 120150=moderate neuroticism; >150=high neuroticism).

Some researchers also calculate subscale scores by grouping items into three factors:

• Emotional Reactivity (24 items)
• Somatic Tension (12 items)
• Cognitive Anxiety (12 items)

Psychometric Properties

Extensive validation work has demonstrated that KON2006 possesses solid reliability and validity:

Reliability

• Internal consistency: Cronbachs =0.89 for the total scale; subscales range from 0.78 to 0.85.
• Testretest stability: r=0.81 over a 4week interval.

Validity

• Construct validity: Strong positive correlations with the Neuroticism domain of the NEOPIR (r0.71) and with the StateTrait Anxiety Inventory (r0.68).
• Criterion validity: Higher scores predict clinical diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder (sensitivity0.76; specificity0.80).
• Factor structure: Confirmatory factor analysis supports a hierarchical model with one general neuroticism factor and three correlated subfactors.

Administration Guidelines

To ensure reliable results, follow these recommendations:

• Provide clear written instructions and assure privacy.
• Allow 1015minutes for completion.
• Score electronically when possible to reduce entry errors.
• Interpret scores in conjunction with clinical interview data.

Applications

Clinical Settings

Therapists use KON2006 as a screening tool to gauge emotional vulnerability, monitor treatment progress, and tailor interventions (e.g., cognitivebehavioral therapy for anxiety).

Occupational Health

Employers may incorporate the questionnaire in wellness programs to identify workers at risk for stressrelated illnesses, thereby enabling preventive measures.

Research

Researchers appreciate the questionnaires brevity and strong psychometric profile for largescale epidemiological studies, personalityhealth linkage investigations, and crosscultural validation projects.

Strengths and Limitations

Strengths

• Concise yet comprehensive assessment of neurotic traits.
• Robust reliability and validity documented in multiple samples.
• Available normative data for Polish adults (ages 1865).

Limitations

• Primarily validated in Polish populations; crosscultural equivalence requires further study.
• Selfreport format may be susceptible to social desirability bias.
• Does not capture protective factors such as resilience.

Access and Copyright

The questionnaire is protected by copyright and may be used only with permission from the authors or the publishing institution. Academic institutions often obtain a license for research purposes, while clinicians may purchase a manual that includes administration and scoring instructions.

Key References

Konarski, A., & Kowalski, M. (2006). Neurotic Personality Questionnaire (KON2006). Manual and Norms. Warsaw: University Press.
Nowak, P., & Zieliska, L. (2012). Validation of the KON2006 in a clinical sample. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94(2), 145155.
Szewczyk, D., & Wjcik, J. (2018). Crosscultural adaptation of KON2006 for use in Englishspeaking populations. Psychology & Health, 33(5), 632648.

Future Directions

Current research trends focus on integrating KON2006 with digital platforms, such as smartphonebased assessment, and on exploring its predictive value for longterm health outcomes (e.g., cardiovascular disease). Additionally, expanding normative data to include adolescents and older adults will improve the instruments utility across the lifespan.

For clinicians, researchers, or students interested in measuring neurotic personality traits, the KON2006 offers a reliable, wellvalidated, and practically manageable solution.