Psychiatry Investig.  2012 Dec;9(4):361-367.

State Effect of Traumatic Experience on Personality Structure

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
  • 2Department of Psychology, Daegu Cyber University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
  • 3Department of Psychiatry, Korea University College of Medicine, Ansan Hospital, Ansan, Republic of Korea. yongku@korea.ac.kr

Abstract


OBJECTIVE
Personality is defined as the trait-like qualities of a person. However, it has been recently suggested that the state effect of a situation leads to changes in scores on personality assessments. We predicted that traumatic experiences would induce changes not only in personality scores but also in the factor structures of personality assessments.
METHODS
MethodsaaWe conducted a cross-sectional, case-controlled study using two data sets: a traumatized adolescent sample (n=71) and a non-traumatized adolescent sample (n=296). Personality factor structures were compared between the two samples using exploratory factor analyses for 25 lower-ordered subscales of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). In the non-traumatized sample, evaluation of the scree plot suggested a five-factor solution supporting TCI's original seven-factor model.
RESULTS
The traumatized sample showed a three-factor structure representing a biological factor, a social factor and an existential factor. This decrease in number of personality factors was caused by strengthened correlations among personality subscales related to coping with traumatic situations. Cloninger's psychobiological model of personality (i.e., temperament-character) was adequate in capturing personality traits of non-traumatized adolescents, but the tripartite view of existential psychology (i.e., body-mind-spirit) clearly corresponded to the factor structure of the traumatized adolescents.
CONCLUSION
The three-factor solution of the present traumatized group is consistent with the tripartite model of personality (i.e., body-mind-spirit), while the five-factor solution of the non-traumatized group corresponds to Cloninger's seven-factor model. This is the first study to describe the state effects of traumatic experiences on personality structure.

Keyword

Personality; Temperament; Character; TCI; Trauma; Adolescent

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Biological Factors
Case-Control Studies
Existentialism
Humans
Personality Assessment
Temperament
Biological Factors
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