Temperament and character profile of eating disorders: a controlled study with the Temperament and Character Inventory.

Full 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.

METHOD:
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.

DISCUSSION:
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.Copyright 2002 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 32: 412-425, 2002.

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Author information

Author/s: Fassino, Secondo (S); Abbate-Daga, Giovanni (G); Amianto, Federico (F); Leombruni, Paolo (P); Boggio, Sonia (S); Rovera, Gian Giacomo (GG);

Affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Psychiatry Section, Service for Eating Disorders, University of Torino, Torino, Italy. fassino(-atsign-)unito.it

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Validation Studies

Journal: The International journal of eating disorders (Int J Eat Disord), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Dec; vol 32 (issue 4) : pp 412-25

Dates: Created 2002/10/18; Completed 2003/02/14; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12386906, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Anorexia Nervosa - classification; diagnosis; psychology
Avoidance Learning
Bulimia - classification; diagnosis; psychology
Case-Control Studies
Character

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