title: Temperament and character profile of eating disorders: a controlled study with the Temperament and Character Inventory.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The question whether anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are different disorders or the extremes of a psychopathologic spectrum still has no definite answer. A way to face this problem is to examine the personality traits underlying these disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was administered to 141 anorectics (70 Restrictor and 71 Binge-purging), to 102 bulimics, and to 100 controls. The Temperament and Character Inventory main scales are Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Reward Dependence, Persistence, Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The personality profiles that emerged are characterized by low Novelty Seeking, high Harm Avoidance, high Persistence, and low Self-Directedness in AN, and by high Novelty Seeking, high Harm Avoidance, and low Self-Directedness in BN. Binge-purging anorectics showed a personality profile midway between anorectics and bulimics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The dimensional study of personality through the TCI and its facets seems effective in discriminating the personality traits underlying the different subtypes of Eating Disorders. The hypothesis of an Eating Disorders spectrum and its clinical implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychiatry Section, Service for Eating Disorders, University of Torino, Torino, Italy. fassino@unito.it
authors.forename: Secondo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fassino
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Abbate-Daga
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Amianto
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leombruni
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boggio
authors.forename: Gian Giacomo
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Rovera
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D002032:Bulimia / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002605:Character; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000592:standards*; D013694:Temperament