IPIP-HEXACO
Dependence
A public-domain personality facet scoring engine
Instructions: For each statement, select the response that best describes how accurately it reflects your typical behavior and attitudes. There are no right or wrong answers. Respond as honestly as possible for the most informative academic baseline.
Scale: 1 = Very Inaccurate · 2 = Moderately Inaccurate · 3 = Neither · 4 = Moderately Accurate · 5 = Very Accurate
Your Dependence Profile
IPIP-HEXACO · Ashton, Lee & Goldberg (2007) · Public Domain
Facet Interpretation
—
—
—
—
Academic Citation
Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The IPIP–HEXACO scales: An alternative, public-domain measure of the personality constructs in the HEXACO model. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1515–1526. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.02.003
About the IPIP-HEXACO Dependence Scale (E-Depe)
The IPIP-HEXACO Dependence scale (E:Depe) is a public-domain personality instrument from the International Personality Item Pool by Ashton, Lee, and Goldberg (2007). Dependence is the third facet of the Emotionality dimension and captures the degree to which individuals rely on social support, approval, and interpersonal validation for emotional functioning. All ten items in this scale are keyed in the same direction — toward greater dependence — making scoring straightforward and construct interpretation direct.
The Dependence facet is unique within the IPIP-HEXACO battery as the only ten-item scale with no reverse-keyed items, reflecting the clear unidirectional nature of the support-seeking construct. Items assess reassurance-seeking, approval needs, influence susceptibility, sadness expressiveness, and need for company. The scale reports a Cronbach's alpha of .73. Research has demonstrated that Dependence independently predicts conformity behavior in social pressure paradigms, submissive responses in hierarchical social contexts, and vulnerability to manipulation — effects that persist after controlling for general Emotionality scores.
Dependence vs. NEO-PI-R Neuroticism Dependency Facet: Key Differences
| Feature | IPIP-HEXACO Dependence (E-Depe) | NEO-PI-R Neuroticism Dependency Facet |
|---|---|---|
| Core Construct | Need for support & approval | Dependency within neuroticism |
| Item Count | 10 items (IPIP-HEXACO) | No standalone facet in NEO-PI-R |
| Access | Public domain — free any use | Proprietary (PAR) |
| Alpha Reliability | .73 (Ashton et al., 2007) | N/A — embedded in N facets |
Facet Position Within the HEXACO Model
The Dependence facet (E-Depe) is one of four facets within the Emotionality (E) dimension of the six-factor HEXACO personality model developed by Michael Ashton and Kibeom Lee. Unlike the Big Five framework, HEXACO adds a sixth dimension — Honesty-Humility — capturing variance in sincere, fair, modest, and non-materialistic behavior that the five-factor model distributes across Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. The IPIP representation of this facet, developed in collaboration with Lewis Goldberg and the International Personality Item Pool project, provides researchers with an openly licensed operationalization that achieves internal consistency (alpha = .73) comparable to the proprietary HEXACO-PI-R while remaining entirely free for academic, organizational, and educational deployment.
Research and Applied Utility
Researchers and students in personality psychology, organizational behavior, and educational research regularly use the IPIP-HEXACO facet scales as targeted instruments for hypothesis testing, survey battery supplementation, and educational self-reflection activities. Because the IPIP scales are public domain, they may be embedded in any survey platform, online tool, or research system without licensing restrictions. The Dependence (E-Depe) scale specifically provides a standardized academic baseline for the dependence construct within the Emotionality domain, enabling comparison with published normative data from the Ashton, Lee, and Goldberg (2007) validation study. The scale has been applied in cross-cultural research across more than 35 countries, providing researchers with substantial normative reference material.
Frequently Asked Questions — Dependence Scale (E-Depe)
Is needing emotional support from others actually a personality weakness?
No — and research is clear on this. Human beings are wired for social interdependence. The question the research asks is not whether you need support, but how rigid that need is and what happens when it is not met. Dependence as a personality facet describes a stable orientation toward seeking support on a continuous spectrum. Problems arise only when dependence becomes inflexible, drives approval-seeking at the cost of authenticity, or creates significant functional difficulty when support is unavailable.
How does high dependence show up in romantic relationships specifically?
Attachment research intersects meaningfully here. High dependence profiles overlap with anxious attachment patterns — a heightened need for reassurance and closeness that can manifest as hypervigilance to partner withdrawal signals. This can create a dynamic where the dependent partner's bids for connection are experienced as excessive by their partner, paradoxically accelerating the distance they fear. The good news is that attachment patterns — even stable ones — show significant responsiveness to secure relational experiences and targeted therapeutic work.
Can someone who scores high on dependence be an effective leader?
Yes, and sometimes more effectively than highly autonomous personalities. Dependent leaders often excel at building collaborative cultures, seeking input genuinely, and creating environments where others feel valued and needed. Dependence becomes problematic in leadership specifically when it drives decision-avoidance or difficulty acting against the group's immediate preferences. Leaders who distinguish between collaborative decision-making and approval-seeking can leverage their relational orientation very effectively.
What does very low dependence actually feel like from the inside?
People who score very low on dependence often describe a strong sense of self-sufficiency and genuine comfort with solitude that others find surprising. They typically process difficult experiences internally before reaching out, and may find social support offers less necessary than others expect. This can be misread as emotional unavailability when it is actually a different and entirely functional processing style. The trait describes where regulation resources come from — internal versus external — rather than the presence or absence of genuine care.
Does this dependence profile replace a formal attachment or relational assessment?
No. The IPIP-HEXACO Dependence scoring engine is an educational self-reflection instrument based on public-domain personality research. It is not an attachment assessment, does not evaluate relationship patterns or emotional health, and produces no formal conclusions about individual functioning. Formal evaluation of dependence, attachment, or relational patterns requires a qualified professional and appropriate validated instruments.