title: How temperament and character affect our career, relationships, and mental health.
abstract: On the way toward an agreed dimensional taxonomy for personality disorders (PD), several pivotal questions remain unresolved. We need to know which dimensions produce problems and in what domains of life; whether impairment can be found at one or both extremes of each dimension; and whether, as is increasingly advocated, some dimensions measure personality functioning whereas others reflect style.
  
  
  
  To gain this understanding, we administered the Temperament and Character Inventory to a sample of 862 consecutively attended outpatients, mainly with PDs (61.2%). Using regression analysis, we examined the ability of personality to predict 39 variables from the Life Outcome Questionnaire concerning career, relationships, and mental health.
  
  
  
  Persistence stood out as the most important dimension regarding career success, with 24.2% of explained variance on average. Self-directedness was the best predictor of social functioning (21.1%), and harm avoidance regarding clinical problems (34.2%). Interpersonal dimensions such as reward dependence and cooperativeness were mostly inconsequential. In general, dimensions were detrimental only in one of their poles.
  
  
  
  Although personality explains 9.4% of life problems overall, dimensions believed to measure functioning (character) were not better predictors than those measuring style (temperament). The notion that PD diagnoses can be built upon the concept of "personality functioning" is unsupported.
authors: Personality Disorder Unit, Institute of Neuroscience, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, C/ Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain; IDIBAPS (Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer), C/ Rosselló, 149, 08036 Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: fguti@clinic.ub.es.
authors: Fernando
authors: F
authors: Gutiérrez
authors: Unitat de Psicologia Mèdica, Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal & Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus de Bellaterra, s/n, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain; Institut de Neuropsiquiatria i Addiccions, CSMA La Mina, Parc de Salut Mar, Passeig Marítim, 25-29, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Miguel
authors: M
authors: Gárriz
authors: Institute of Neuroscience, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, C/ Villarroel, 170, 08036 Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Josep M
authors: JM
authors: Peri
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Mental Health, and Addiction, GSS-Hospital Santa Maria-IRB, 25198 Lleida, Spain.
authors: Gemma
authors: G
authors: Vall
authors: Unitat de Psicologia Mèdica, Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal & Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus de Bellaterra, s/n, 08193, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Rafael
authors: R
authors: Torrubia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002322:Career Mobility; D002605:Character; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000639:trends; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality / Q000145:classification; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000592:standards; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament; D055815:Young Adult