Temperament and character effects on late adolescents' well-being and emotional-behavioural difficulties

Cristiano Crescentini; Marco Garzitto; Andrea Paschetto; Paolo Brambilla; Franco Fabbro

doi:10.7717/peerj.4484

Temperament and character effects on late adolescents' well-being and emotional-behavioural difficulties

PeerJ. 2018 Mar 27:6:e4484. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4484. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Cristiano Crescentini¹, Marco Garzitto², Andrea Paschetto³, Paolo Brambilla^{4

5}, Franco Fabbro^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
² Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone, Italy.
³ ISIS "E. Mattei", Latisana/Lignano Sabbiadoro, Udine, Italy.
⁴ Scientific Institute, IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini, Lecco, Italy.
⁵ Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
⁶ Department of Medicine, University of Udine, Udine, Italy.
⁷ Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Perceptual Robotics (PERCRO) Laboratory, Pisa, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Research on adults points to personality as a crucial determinant of well-being. The present study investigates the question of personality's relation to well-being and psychosocial adjustment in adolescence.

Methods: We assessed the role of temperament and character (Temperament and Character Inventory, TCI-125), on psychological well-being (PWB; Psychological Well-Being scales), subjective well-being (SWB; Positive and Negative Affect, PA and NA, respectively), and psychosocial adjustment (emotional-behavioural problems measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for Adolescents, SDQ-A), in 72 Italian late adolescents (aged 17.5 ± 0.75). Multiple regressions were conducted to predict PWB, SWB, and SDQ-A scores using TCI-125 scales as predictors.

Results: Character maturity, and in particular Self-Directedness, had a widespread protective effect on well-being and psychosocial adjustment, while different strengths and emotional-behavioural difficulties were associated to specific temperamental and character traits. For example, Harm-Avoidance and Novelty-Seeking positively predicted internalized and externalized problems, respectively.

Discussion: The present results suggest the usefulness of continuing to evaluate temperament and, in particular, character dimensions in investigations focused on adolescents' well-being and psychosocial functioning, especially in the contexts of potential interventions aimed at enhancing development of adolescents' character dimensions at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and transpersonal levels.

Keywords: Adolescents; Personality; Psychological well-being; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; Subjective well-being; Temperament and character inventory.

Grants and funding

The first and last authors were funded by the University of Udine. The second author was funded by the scientific institute IRCCS “Eugenio Medea”. The third author was funded by the ISIS “Enrico Mattei”. The fourth author was funding by the University of Milan and partly supported by grants from the Italian Ministry of Health (RF-2011-02352308). There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.