Does Disintegration Qualify as a Separate Trait Extending the HEXACO Model? A Preregistered Meta-Analysis Exploring Discriminant Validity

Basic personality models, such as the HEXACO framework, are intended to cover the personality space exhaustively. However, it is debated whether the dispositional proneness to psychotic-like experiences and behaviors – conceptualized here as a potential seventh personality trait termed Disintegration – can be adequately integrated into existing models or necessitates their extension. Due to a lack of meta-analytic evidence, this study examines the true magnitude of these associations and tests the generalizability of Disintegration’s discriminant validity across diverse populations and assessment contexts. We conducted a multivariate random-effects meta-analysis of 47 samples (N = 17,092). The main findings indicate that D shows small (ρ = |.01| with Openness) to moderate correlations (ρ = |.37| with Conscientiousness) with the six HEXACO dimensions. Critically, these associations fall within the internal boundaries of the HEXACO intercorrelations (from ρ = |.00| to ρ = |.38| between Honesty-Humility and Agreeableness). Furthermore, the HEXACO model accounts for at most 29% of the variance in Disintegration, and Disintegration facets load primarily on a distinct latent factor rather than distributing across HEXACO dimensions. These findings were robust across sensitivity analyses (outliers, hierarchical effect size dependency, publication bias), moderator conditions (proportions of patients, students, translated measures), and levels of analysis (domain- and facet-level). Given the evidence supporting discriminant validity, we encourage future research to examine the predictive utility of a seven-factor HEXACOD model, to develop and validate translated DELTA versions in non-Serbian samples, and to refine the operationalization of the low pole of Disintegration to improve its psychometric properties. The personality space may be more complex than current lexical models suggest, and Disintegration might offer a theoretically grounded and empirically supported candidate for improved personality space coverage.