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Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) in adolescents with anorexia nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

Filip Rybakowski*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Medical Sciences
Agnieszka Slopien
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Medical Sciences
Marzena Zakrzewska
Affiliation:
Department of Basic Psychological Research, University of Adam Mickiewicz, Poznan, Poland
Elzbieta Hornowska
Affiliation:
Department of Basic Psychological Research, University of Adam Mickiewicz, Poznan, Poland
Andrzej Rajewski
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Medical Sciences
*
Filip Rybakowski MD PhD, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Ul. Szpitalna 27/33; 60–572 Poznan, Poland. Tel: + 48 61 8491355; Fax: + 48 61 8480392; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Background:

Female patients with anorexia nervosa differ significantly from the control women in various dimensions of personality.

Objective:

To investigate the personality dimensions measured with the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) in adolescent patients with restrictive-type and bulimic/purging-type anorexia nervosa (ANR and ANB, respectively), and contrast them with the results of control females.

Methods:

Sixty-one patients with anorexia nervosa (36 ANR and 25 ANB) and 60 controls were tested with the TCI. A concomitant assessment of depression, body mass index and age was made to evaluate the possible correlation with personality dimensions.

Results:

Adolescent ANR patients scored higher in persistence, harm avoidance and cooperativeness, and lower in novelty seeking and self-transcendence than control women. ANB patients scored in the middle between ANR and control females, but differences did not reach the significance level with either group, except for the self-transcendence dimension where they scored significantly higher than those with ANR.

Conclusions:

The deviations in temperamental profile of adolescent ANR are similar to those reported in adult patients. The ANB adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa show less prominent deviations from the personality of control women. With regard to the character dimension of cooperativeness, adolescents with ANR scored higher than controls, in contrast to the observations in adult patients. This may reflect the effect of illness on the development of character.

Type
Original Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Blackwell Munksgaard

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