The Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire (ZKPQ) was developed to assess the dimensions that constitute the Alternative Five-Factor Model (AFFM). This model (Zuckerman, 2002; Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Joireman, Teta & Kraft, 1993) emerged from a series of factor analyses of scales believed to measure basic dimensions of personality or temperament, particularly those used in psychobiological research (Zuckerman, Kuhlman & Camac, 1988; Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Thornquist & Kiers, 1991). This alternative theoretical model, influenced by previous Eysenck’s and Gray’s research on personality, is mainly focused on temperamental characteristics of personality, placing a great emphasis on psychobiological aspects of personality dimensions. Eysenck and Zuckerman (1992) pointed out that psychobiological studies of personality provide a better understanding of the neurobiological and genetic underpinnings of personality. Relying only on the encoding of personality traits in language may be treacherous, as this encoding probably reflects the traits observed in social interactions and may not necessarily mirror the proportional biological relevance of the traits (Zuckerman, 1992; Zuckerman et al., 1993). Therefore, in contrast to the lexical approach, using psychobiological data allows researchers to explore the causal, biological origins of personality (Eysenck, 1992).
Since its first publication in 1993, the ZKPQ has undergone extensive psychometric testing, demonstrating good internal reliability, temporal stability, validity and cross-cultural replication (Zuckerman, 2002). Concerning validity, for example, the questionnaire has shown consensual validity (Gomà-i-Freixanet, Wismeijer & Valero, 2005) and concurrent validity as well. Regarding concurrent validity, some studies have already been conducted, e.g. characteristics of drug abusers and prediction of therapy course (Ball, 1995), characteristics of psychopathology (Gomà-i-Freixanet et al., 2008; Thornquist & Zuckerman, 1995; O’Sullivan, Zuckerman & Kraft, 1996) and risk taking (O’Sullivan, Zuckerman & Kraft, 1998; Zuckerman & Kuhlman, 2000). Several cross cultural studies have also been performed as well using translations into other languages, e.g. German (Ostendorf & Angleitner, 1994), Japanese (Shiomi, Kuhlman, Zuckerman, Joireman, Sato & Yata, 1996), Chinese (Wu, Wang, Du, Li, Jiang & Wang, 2000) or Italian (De Pascalis & Russo, 2003) among others.