Temperament and personal character relationship with symptoms of schizophrenia disorder

Background: Knowledge is limited concerning the role of temperament and character factors on schizophrenia. Recent studies suggest that dimensions of temperament and character influence symptoms and functions in schizophrenia.  The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between temperament and character with positive and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: The research sample consisted of 100 men which were randomly selected from schizophrenia patients with positive and negative symptoms at Razi hospital in Tabriz. Temperament and character inventory and positive and negative symptoms scale were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using t-test and discriminate analyses. 

Results: The research findings showed that patients with schizophrenia with negative symptoms   had higher levels of self– transcendence and harm avoidance. However, patients with schizophrenia with positive symptoms had higher levels of cooperativeness. The results of discriminate analysis showed that explained 37 percent of variance of self– transcendence, harm avoidance and cooperativeness for only function between groups of schizophrenia with positive and negative symptoms. Discriminate function obtained was classified correctly by stepwise method 68.3 percent schizophrenia with positive and negative symptoms.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that self– transcendence, harm avoidance and cooperativeness discriminated the patients with schizophrenia with positive and negative symptoms. The study confirmed important implications about intensity of symptomology and early intervention for patients with schizophrenia.