Relationship between temperament and character personality dimensions among suicide attempters in an Iranian population

Shafiee-Kandjani, Ali Reza; Amiri, Shahrokh; Sarihi, Nima; Hossein, Elham; Safikhanlou, Salman; Jafarzadeh-Ghareziaaddin, Mohsen

doi:10.15171/jept.2019.26

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Road Traffic Injury Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

² Research Center of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

³ Department of Internal Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran

⁴ Clinical Psychologist, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.15171/jept.2019.26

Abstract

Objective: Two temperamental components that are mostly associated with suicide are high novelty seeking (NS) and high harm avoidance (HA). This study aimed to evaluate the temperament and character personality dimensions of self-poisoning in suicidal attempters in an Iranian population.
Methods: A descriptive-analytic study was conducted with random sampling in which 77 self-poisoning patients and equal normal counterparts were selected. Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and clinical interview were used as study procedures. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 18 using chi-square, Mann-Whitney U and regression. P values<0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: Findings showed that people attempting suicide were significantly different from general population in terms of character and temperament. NS and HA yielded high scores in the suicide group, while reward dependence (RD), self-directedness (SD), cooperativeness (CO) and self-transcendence (ST) variables revealed significantly higher scores in the healthy group. No significant difference was observed among suicide attempters in terms of gender.
Conclusion: The results confirm the difference between non-suicidal individuals and suicide attempters in terms of character and temperament in a way that suicidal patients have high harm-avoidance and introversion. In addition, the history of attempts and early alcohol consumption might be considered as suicide re-attempt predictors.

Keywords

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Journal of Emergency Practice and Trauma

Relationship between temperament and character personality dimensions among suicide attempters in an Iranian population

References

References

Volume 6, Issue 1
January 2020
Pages 33-37

Relationship between temperament and character personality dimensions among suicide attempters in an Iranian population

References

References

Volume 6, Issue 1January 2020Pages 33-37

Volume 6, Issue 1
January 2020
Pages 33-37