Temperament and character among Korean children and adolescents with anxiety disorders

• Published in: European child & adolescent psychiatry 2009, Vol.18 (1), p.60-64
• Main Authors: Cho, Soo-churl, Jung, Sun-woo, Kim, Boong-nyun, Hwang, Jun-won, Shin, Min-sup, Kim, Jae-won, Chungh, Dong-seon, Kim, Hyo-won
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anxiety disorders; Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis; Anxiety Disorders - epidemiology; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Anxiety, Separation - diagnosis; Anxiety, Separation - epidemiology; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - statistics & numerical data; Biological and medical sciences; Brief Report; Character; Child; Child & adolescent mental health; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Child clinical studies; Children; Comorbidity; Conduct disorder; Demography; Emotional disorders; Fear & phobias; Female; Health surveys; Humans; Korea - epidemiology; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental disorders; Mood disorders; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - diagnosis; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - epidemiology; Obsessive-compulsive disorders; Personality; Phobia; Phobic Disorders - diagnosis; Phobic Disorders - epidemiology; Post traumatic stress disorder; Psychiatrists; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Separation anxiety; Severity of Illness Index; Social phobia; Surveys and Questionnaires; Temperament
• ISSN: 1018-8827; 1435-165X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00787-008-0699-3

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the temperament and character of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders in samples from Korean community. The study subjects were children and adolescents diagnosed with social phobia ( n  = 66), separation anxiety disorder ( n  = 47), specific phobia ( n  = 415), and obsessive–compulsive disorder ( n  = 42) with the diagnostic interview schedule for children, version IV (DISC-IV) in representative community samples. Among these, we excluded other psychiatric disorder comorbid samples, with the exception of externalizing disorders. We assessed the subjects of each anxiety group using the junior temperament and character inventory (JTCI). Social phobias were significantly associated with high harm avoidance and low self-directedness on the JTCI. The association of specific phobias with high harm avoidance, and obsessive–compulsive disorder with low self-directedness was also significant. Separation anxiety disorder was not associated with any temperament and character on the JTCI. Children and adolescents with anxiety disorders have different temperaments and character profiles in accordance with diagnostic groups, which implies the specific pathophysiological mechanism of each anxiety disorder.