Temperament and character among Korean children and adolescents with anxiety disorders.
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.
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Soo-Churl
SC
Cho
Sun-Woo
SW
Jung
Boong-Nyun
BN
Kim
Jun-Won
JW
Hwang
Min-Sup
MS
Shin
Jae-Won
JW
Kim
Dong-Seon
DS
Chungh
Hyo-Won
HW
Kim
D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002605:Character; D002648:Child; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament