The Yin-Yang represents two opposing and complementary traits of nature such as introvert-extrovert and passive-active, and has been primary framework of medicine for thousands of years in the East. The purpose of this study was to examine the problem behaviors of the middle school students, which is a major social and psychopathological issue in Korea, from the Yin-Yang temperaments.

Subjects of 670 middle school students (365 boys and 305 girls) finished Korean version of youth self-report (YSR) for describing the problem behaviors and Sasang personality questionnaire (SPQ) for measuring Yin-Yang temperament. The high (30%) and low (30%) SPQ score groups were shown to represent Yin and Yang temperament groups with acceptable reliability and validity. We examined the correlation between YSR and SPQ, and YSR subscale differences between high and low SPQ score groups.

The SPQ significantly (P < 0.01) correlated positively with YSR externalizing problem (r = 0.148, r = 0.182) and negatively with YSR Internalizing Problem (r = −0.212, r = −0.177) in boys and girls, respectively. The Yang temperament group (8.42 ± 6.24, 8.36 ± 6.59) is significantly (P < 0.01) higher than Yin group (6.17 ± 4.82, 5.83 ± 5.32) in Externalizing Problem, and the Yin temperament group (9.55 ± 7.72, 11.38 ± 8.18) is significantly (P < 0.01) higher than Yang group (6.01 ± 5.95, 8.28 ± 7.49) in Internalizing Problem with boys and girls, respectively.

These results showed that the Yin-Yang temperament of traditional eastern medicine might be clinically useful for screening psychopathological problems in adolescents. Implications and suggestions for cross-cultural psychological study of the East and West are also suggested.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.