Reliability and validity of Chinese self-report version of the junior temperament and character inventory

Abstract

Objective To assess the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of Junior Temperament and Character Inventory(self-report version, JTCI-S) in child and adolescence. Methods Totally 1947 subjects were selected from middle and primary school in Shenyang as school group, and 76 outpatients were chosen from the department of psychiatry of Shengjing Hospital as outpatient group. All the subjects completed JTCI-S, The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorder (SCARED), Child Depression Inventory (CDI), Youth Self' report (YSR).99 students of school group accepted JTCI-S retest after four and a half months to test.Descriptive statistics, independent t tests, internal consistency analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were carried out to examine the reliability and validity. Results The JTCI-S had 108 items, included four subscales of the temperament(Novelty Seeking (NS), Harm Avoidance (HA), Reward Dependence (RD), Persistence (PS)) and three subscales of the character (Self-Directedness (SD), Cooperativeness (CO), Self-Transcendence (ST)). The CR values of each item ranged from 5.33 to 59.26, and the Cronbach's α of the internal consistency reliability were 0.52 to 0.79. The structure validity with CFA presented nice goodness of indices for Temperament and Character (the GFI, AGFI, NFI, CFI and IFI were 0.92 to 0.98, and all the RMSEA were 0.05). The scales internal relation analysis showed that the correlation coefficients among seven factors ranged from -0.44 to 0.49.NS, HA, ST scores were significantly positive correlated with all YSR dimensions, SCARED and CDI(r=0.15~0.64, P<0.01). While RD, PS, SD, CO were significantly negative correlated with all YSR dimensions, SCARED and CDI(r=-0.56~-0.15, P<0.01). The outpatient group was very different from the school group in JTCI-S subscales' scores. NS, HA scores in outpatient group were higher than school group((8.7±3.3)vs. (7.3±3.0), (12.0±4.8)vs. (9.0±4.1); all P<0.01), and the scores of the RD, PS, SD, CO lower than school group(e.g., RD(4.3±2.4)vs. (5.1±2.0), all P<0.01). The test-retest coefficient were 0.51 to 0.68(P<0.01). Conclusion Chinese version of junior temperament and character inventory shows good reliability and validity. It can be used in research of temperament and character for child and adolescence. Key words: Child and adolescence; Temperament; Character; Reliability; Validity; Psychometrics