Positive Temperament Research Articles

Associations among temperament characteristics and telomere length and attrition rate in early childhood.

There is growing interest in telomere length as an indicator of current and future health. Although early childhood is a period of rapid telomere attrition, little is known about the factors that influence telomere biology during this time. Adult research suggests that telomere length is influenced by psychological characteristics. This study's goal was to test associations among repeated measures of temperament and telomere length in a community sample of children (N = 602; 52% male, 73% non-Hispanic White, middle-to-high socioeconomic status) from infancy to age 3 years. Relative telomere length was assessed from DNA in saliva samples collected at infancy (M = 8.4 months), 2 years (M = 24.9 months), and 3 years (M = 37.8 months). Temperament was assessed via maternal report questionnaires administered at infancy (Infant Behavior Report Questionnaire-Revised) and ages 2 and 3 years (Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire). Temperament was operationalized in two ways: using the established domains of negative affectivity, surgency/extraversion, and regulation/effortful control and using person-centered scores that identified three groups of children with similar profiles across domains (emotionally and behaviorally regulated; emotionally and behaviorally dysregulated; introverted and overcontrolled). Analyses revealed that greater regulation/effortful control was associated with longer telomere length across time points. Additionally, higher surgency/extraversion, beginning in infancy, was associated with decreased rate of telomere attrition. There were no sex differences in the relations between temperament and telomere measures. These findings suggest that, as early as infancy, temperament may influence telomere biology, with a potential protective effect of positive temperament characteristics on telomere erosion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Personality Change Across Four Years in World Trade Center Responders

The present study investigated personality change over the course of a four-year longitudinal study in N = 452 older adults who responded to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center ( Mage = 55 years, SD = 0.41). This sample provides the rare opportunity to compare normative findings of personality change with change in a unique group with a common trauma. Participants completed the Faceted Inventory of the Five-Factor Model and the Big Five Inventory-2 across four years. Latent growth modeling showed significant mean-level decreases in Openness and Extraversion. At the facet-level, significant decreases were found for Aesthetic Sensitivity, Creative Imagination, Intellectual Curiosity, Anxiety, Anger Proneness, Positive Temperament, Venturesomeness, Ascendence, Empathy, and Achievement Striving. Further, responders showed variability in change—in particular, for Neuroticism and its facets. Regressions from exposure level and age on personality change were also examined. Results highlight the importance of facet-level analysis, as significant change was found only for certain facets within domains—sometimes when the domains showed no change. Differences between responders and normative comparisons were examined. Responders share unique trauma and personality findings may allow clinically useful information on the mental-health problems that responders experience.

Massage Therapy for Infant Temperaments: An Intervention Study

A form of complementary therapy, infant massage, has the potential to ameliorate difficult infant temperaments and transform them into easier ones. This study aimed to ascertain the impact of newborn massage therapy on infants' temperament. A total of 102 participants were divided into two groups for this quasi-experimental study using a pretest and posttest. Over the length of five weeks, twice each week, the experimental groups received ten-time massages in total. A generalized estimating equation (GEE) was applied to the data. This study discovered that infant massage improved the temperament in the experimental group from difficult to easy, a result that was mirrored in the control group. Infants may develop a more positive temperament through the utilization of infant massage therapy. Healthcare professionals are required to provide a thorough understanding of the physiological and psychological growth of infants, placing special attention on strategies that promote a positive temperament.

The association between personality, relationship satisfaction, and psychopathology in a three-wave, longitudinal study.

The aim of this work was to better understand the role of personality as it relates to psychopathology, with satisfaction as a mediating variable. Personality is an important determinant of many life outcomes including relationship satisfaction and psychopathology. Previous work has demonstrated that broad domains of normal personality have low-to-moderate associations with various forms of psychopathology. Research has primarily focused on mechanisms that might explain how common personality traits put one at risk for common forms of psychopathology; this work builds upon existing work in examining relationship satisfaction as one possible mechanism. No study to date has examined whether relationship satisfaction mediates the connection between personality and psychopathology. We utilized multilevel modeling in a longitudinal sample of 100 newlywed couples to test the hypothesis that major domains of personality (positive temperament, negative temperament, disinhibition) have a significant effect on relationship satisfaction which, in turn, is significantly associated with internalizing and externalizing forms of psychopathology. We found no evidence for the mediating role of relationship satisfaction; however, in exploratory analyses, we did find evidence for both between-person and within-person effects of personality on psychopathology. This study confirms the role of personality as an important factor in consideration of dyadic processes, though not entirely deterministic for downstream functioning. Thus, separate factors in addition to personality may be worth examining in consideration of how low relationship satisfaction may be associated with psychopathology.

Resilient, but for how long? The relationships between temperament, burnout, and mental health in healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dispositional traits of wellbeing and stress-reaction are strong predictors of mood symptoms following stressful life events, and the COVID-19 pandemic introduced many life stressors, especially for healthcare workers. We longitudinally investigated the relationships among positive and negative temperament group status (created according to wellbeing and stress-reaction personality measures), burnout (exhaustion, interpersonal disengagement), COVID concern (e.g., health, money worries), and moral injury (personal acts, others' acts) as predictors of generalized anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress symptoms in 435 healthcare workers. Participants were employees in healthcare settings in North Central Florida who completed online surveys monthly for 8 months starting in October/November 2020. Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire subscale scores for stress-reaction and wellbeing were subjected to K-means cluster analyses that identified two groups of individuals, those with high stress-reaction and low wellbeing (negative temperament) and those with the opposite pattern defined as positive temperament (low stress-reaction and high wellbeing). Repeated measures ANOVAs assessed all time points and ANCOVAs assessed the biggest change at timepoint 2 while controlling for baseline symptoms. The negative temperament group reported greater mood symptoms, burnout, and COVID concern, than positive temperament participants overall, and negative participants' scores decreased over time while positive participants' scores increased over time. Burnout appeared to most strongly mediate this group-by-time interaction, with the burnout exhaustion scale driving anxiety and depression symptoms. PTSD symptoms were also related to COVID-19 health worry and negative temperament. Overall, results suggest that individuals with higher stress-reactions and more negative outlooks on life were at risk for anxiety, depression, and PTSD early in the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas individuals with positive temperament traits became more exhausted and thus more symptomatic over time. Targeting interventions to reduce mood symptoms in negative temperament individuals and prevent burnout/exhaustion in positive temperament individuals early in an extended crisis may be an efficient and effective approach to reduce the mental health burden on essential workers.

Does Imagery Ability Matter for the Relationship Between Temperament and Self-Confidence in Team and Individual Sport Disciplines?

The main purpose of our study was to investigate the relationship among temperamental traits, a general tendency to use imagery, and self-confidence in sport. The specific aim was to verify if general imagery mediates the relationship between temperament and self-confidence in sport, but also with respect to individual and team sport disciplines. The study involved 144 athletes aged 19–25 years (75 men and 69 women) with different lengths of training (from 1 month to 18 years) and presented different sports levels: international (n = 12), national (n = 46), and recreational (n = 86). They also represented individual (n = 73) and team (n = 68) sports. The Imagination in Sport Questionnaire (ISQ), Trait Sports Confidence Inventory (TSCI-PL), and Temperament Questionnaire (EAS) were all completed by the participants. Results indicate that self-confidence is explained in about 13% by temperament and general imagery, but only general imagery (b = 0.22; p < 0.05) and negative axes of the temperament—emotionality (b = –0.26; p < 0.05). The test of the indirect effect of the negative axes of the temperament on self-confidence through general imagery, conducted by Preacher and Hayes bootstrapping procedure, revealed significant mediation [b = 0.37; 95% CI = (0.09; 0.68); R2Med = 0.46] suggesting that about 46% of variance explained in self-confidence by emotionality is related to general imagery. The other 3% of variance explained in self-confidence by the positive temperament axes is related to general imagery, however, it was insignificant. The general imagery explains the relationship between emotionality and self-confidence only in individual sports athletes.

The validity of the residuals approach to measuring resilience to adverse childhood experiences

BackgroundResilience is broadly defined as the ability to maintain or regain functioning in the face of adversity. Recent work to harmonise the quantification and definition of resilience quantifies resilience as the residual variance in psychosocial functioning that remains after accounting for adversity exposure. However, there have been no published studies that have formally investigated the validity of this approach. Considering this, we examine the construct and predictive validity of the residuals approach using participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a multigenerational, longitudinal cohort study.MethodsWe regressed exposures of adolescent adversity on adolescent psychopathology scores using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire and obtained the residual variance. We investigated construct validity by analysing whether previously identified demographic and resilience factors significantly predicted resilience. Predictive validity of resilience was investigated by comparing the predictive power of resilience with other determinants of psychosocial functioning on two developmental outcomes: depressive symptoms at 18 years, measured by the Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire, and NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) status at 17 and 23 years. The associations between depressive symptoms at 18, resilience, ACEs and covariates were tested using multiple linear regression. NEET status at 17 and 23 were run as separate binary multiple logistic regression models to test associations with resilience and known demographics previously associated with NEET status.ResultsSeven previously identified protective factors, including self-esteem, positive sibling relationship, temperament, and positive perception of school, significantly predicted resilience to adolescent psychopathology, thus providing strong construct validity. Resilience significantly predicted a reduction in depressive symptoms at 18 years, and significantly decreased the likelihood of having NEET status at both 17 years and 23 years, even after taking into account early childhood adversity and other risk factors. None of the socioeconomic factors were significantly associated with resilience.ConclusionsOur study demonstrates that the residuals method of operationalising resilience has good construct and predictive validity yet recommend replication studies. It has the potential to advance research into the mechanisms and modifiability of resilience.Trial Registration: Not applicable.

Validation and Use of the Measure of Effective Attributes of Trainers in School-Based Implementation of Proactive Classroom Management Strategies.

In-service training is a critical and frequently utilized implementation strategy to support the adoption and delivery of evidence-based practice (EBP) across service settings, but is characteristically ineffective in producing provider behavior changes, particularly when delivered in single exposure didactic events. EBP trainers are in a strategic position to leverage their trainee-perceived characteristics to influence trainees’ attitudes, motivation, and intentions to implement, and ultimately increase the likelihood of successful uptake of skills. The purpose of this study was to extend research on the measure of effective attributes of trainers (MEAT) by examining its underlying factor structure and reliability in the context of in-service EBP training for teachers (i.e., structural validity). This study also examined the predictive validity of the MEAT by examining relationships with a measure of teacher intentions to implement EBPs following a standardized training experience (i.e., predictive validity). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was employed to determine the latent factors (i.e., subscales of characteristics) that underlie the data. Additionally, a forward selection, stepwise regression was conducted to determine the extent to which trainer attributes could explain variance in intentions to implement. Results indicated that the MEAT was a valid and reliable measure to examine trainer attributes in school settings. Moreover, findings suggested that trainer attributes, particularly those related to trainee perceptions of the trainers’ welcoming disposition (i.e., related to trainers’ warm, positive temperament and internal character traits), were significantly associated with trainees’ intentions to implement the trained upon EBP.

The Protective Effects of Maternal and Paternal Factors on Children's Social Development.

The goal of this study is to examine associations among family and child protective factors, maternal and paternal levels of distress, and children's social competence in a sample of 156 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse first-time mothers, fathers, and their children, followed from 9 months to 30 months of age. Using multiple linear regression modeling, our results indicate that dyadic synchrony and children's positive temperament during infancy are significantly associated with fewer behavior problems and paternal optimism with high levels of social competence at 21 months (main effects). Father optimism and child positive temperament are only significantly related to higher levels of social competence and fewer behavioral problems, respectively, in the context of low levels of paternal distress (interaction effects). These results suggest that in our sample maternal dyadic synchrony operates in the same way across levels of maternal distress as it relates to children's behavior problems, with the exception of paternal optimism and children's positive temperament. Results also suggest that protective factors are different for mothers, fathers, and children.

Stability and Change in Relations Between Personality Traits and the Interpersonal Problems Circumplex During Cognitive Therapy for Recurrent Depression.

Both personality impairment and maladaptive-range traits are necessary for diagnosis in the alternative model of personality disorder. We clarified personality impairment-trait connections using measures of the interpersonal problems circumplex and personality traits among adult outpatients (N = 351) with major depressive disorder receiving cognitive therapy (CT). The trait scales' circumplex projections were summarized by elevation (correlations with general interpersonal problems), amplitude (specific relations to the circumplex dimensions of dominance and affiliation), and angle (predominant orientation in the two-dimensional circumplex). Most trait scales showed hypothesized circumplex relations, including substantive elevation (e.g., negative temperament, mistrust), amplitude (e.g., aggression, detachment), and expected angles (e.g., positive temperament and manipulativeness oriented toward overly nurturant/intrusive or domineering/vindictive problems, respectively), that were stable across time during CT. These results revealed meaningful and consistent impairment-trait connections, even during CT when mean depressive affect decreased substantially.

Affectionate Touch in the Context of Breastfeeding and Maternal Depression Influences Infant Neurodevelopmental and Temperamental Substrates

Background: While numerous studies have demonstrated maternal depression’s influence on infant brain development, few studies have examined the changes that occur as a consequence of co-occurring experiential factors that affect quality of mother and infant affectionate touch as well as infant temperament and neurophysiological systems. The aim of the study was to examine the interactive effects of maternal depression and breastfeeding on mother and infant affectionate touch and infant temperament and cortical maturation patterns across early development. Methods: 113 mothers and their infants participated when infants were 1 and 3 months of age. Questionnaires to assess maternal depressive symptoms, feeding, and temperament were completed. Tonic EEG patterns (asymmetry and left and right activity) were collected and the dyads were video-recorded during feeding to assess mother and infant affectionate touch patterns. Results: Data analysis showed that EEG activity and mother-infant affectionate touch differed as a function of mood and feeding method. Notably, only infants of depressed mothers that bottle-fed showed right frontal EEG asymmetry and attenuated change in the left frontal region across 3 months. Breastfeeding positively impacted affectionate touch behaviors and was associated with increased left and decreased right frontal EEG activation even for depressed groups. Furthermore, a model incorporating physiology, maternal depression, touch, temperament, and feeding indicated significant prediction for infant affectionate touch (with breastfeeding and affectively positive temperament demonstrating the strongest prediction). Con­clusion: The findings suggest that breastfeeding and the infant’s positive temperament influence mother-infant affectionate touch patterns and result in neuroprotective outcomes for infants, even those exposed to maternal depression within early development.

Do patients’ cognitive therapy skills predict personality change during treatment of depression?

BackgroundPsychological interventions can change personality, including increasing positive temperament (extraversion) and decreasing negative temperament (neuroticism), but why these changes occur is unclear. The current study tested the extent to which patients’ acquisition and use of skills taught in cognitive therapy (CT) correlated with changes in positive and negative temperament during treatment of depression. MethodOutpatients (N = 351) with recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) were enrolled in a 12-week CT protocol. Temperament (early and late in CT), patient skills (mid and late in CT), and depressive symptoms (early, mid, and late in CT) were measured repeatedly. ResultsPatients with greater acquisition and use of CT skills showed significantly larger increases in positive temperament and larger decreases in negative temperament in path analyses. Effect sizes were small, median standardized |beta| = 0.13. Models controlled depressive symptom levels and changes. ConclusionsSkills taught in CT for recurrent depression correlate with personality change during this efficacious treatment. The absence of measures of CT skills at baseline and personality mid-CT allows several interpretations of the current findings. Future research is needed to clarify whether patients’ use of CT skills facilitates adaptive changes in personality during CT.

Distinct Risk Profiles in Social Anxiety Disorder.

Using a factor mixture model (FMM) approach, this study examined if SAD could be subtyped by distinct risk profiles, and whether these subtypes predicted different manifestations of the disorder. We derived risk profiles from neurotic temperament (NT), positive temperament (PT), and autonomic arousability (AA), which are hypothesized to be important in the maintenance of anxiety disorders such as SAD. In our sample of 758 SAD outpatients, a two-class FMM solution fit the data best. Class 1 was characterized by very low PT whereas PT in Class 2 was substantially higher. The two classes differed to a lesser extent on NT, but were virtually equivalent on AA. Class 1 had significantly more males, individuals with depressive disorders, generalized SAD, and higher SAD severity. Class 2 had more individuals with performance subtype SAD. These findings provide initial support for distinct risk profiles within SAD that may be predictive of its clinical expression.

Creativity and Bipolar Disorder: A Shared Genetic Vulnerability.

Bipolar disorder is a lifelong mood disorder characterized by extreme mood swings between mania and depression. Despite fitness costs associated with increased mortality and significant impairment, bipolar disorder has persisted in the population with a high heritability and a stable prevalence. Creativity and other positive traits have repeatedly been associated with the bipolar spectrum, particularly among unaffected first-degree relatives and those with milder expressions of bipolar traits. This suggests a model in which large doses of risk variants cause illness, but mild to moderate doses confer advantages, which serve to maintain bipolar disorder in the population. Bipolar disorder may thus be better conceptualized as a dimensional trait existing at the extreme of normal population variation in positive temperament, personality, and cognitive traits, aspects of which may reflect a shared vulnerability with creativity. Investigations of this shared vulnerability may provide insight into the genetic mechanisms underlying illness and suggest novel treatments.

Development of a Scale of Positive Temperament in Indian Context.

Background:Available tests of temperament measure the traits of different categories (like reward dependence, emotionality) with a large number of items. These tests do not deal specifically with traits of positive temperament (emotionality), and most scales measure negative emotionality as a counterpart of positive emotionality. The current study reports the development of a new scale of positive temperament, with fewer items and applicable in the Indian context.Methods:Items were developed with help from available scales of positive temperament, which led to the selection of 36 items from six different constructs. The data were collected in two stages for exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the scale. Stage one and two consisted of 278 and 338 participants, respectively, in the age group of 18–80 years, from both the genders and different professions. Data was collected online through the Qualtrics survey website. The participants responded on a 5-point Likert scale from 0–4 indicating how often they behave in a particular way as asked by the item. The test was reconducted on a subsample of 98 participants after 4 weeks to measure test-retest reliability. Convergent validity was also established using strengths and difficulties questionnaire and neuroticism scale, and divergent validity was found with age.Results:Exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors: optimism, perseverance, self-contentment, and adaptability. Confirmatory factor analysis later revealed that the 4-factor model fits best with the data, having comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.96 and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.063. The internal consistency estimates of the four factors ranged from 0.72 to 0.91, indicating a stable structure of scales. The final scale is of 28 items, with seven items in each factor. The test-retest reliability coefficients ranged from 0.79–0.96. Two second-order factors were also identified.Conclusions:The positive temperament inventory is a four-factor, 28-item validated inventory with a stable set of items, having specific applicability in measuring positive temperament and fewer items for ease of use in different situations. This is the first scale of its kind in the Indian context and holds a promising future in the area of personality and clinical research.

The Multidimensional Emotional Disorder Inventory (MEDI): Assessing transdiagnostic dimensions to validate a profile approach to emotional disorder classification.

There has been limited progress evaluating the validity of dimensional approaches to emotional disorder classification. This has occurred in part because of a lack of standardized assessment tools developed with the specific intent of studying dimensional classification. The goal of the current study was to develop and validate the Multidimensional Emotional Disorder Inventory (MEDI) to efficiently assess nine empirically supported transdiagnostic dimensions proposed in the Brown and Barlow (2009) profile approach to emotional disorder classification: neurotic temperament, positive temperament, depression, autonomic arousal, somatic anxiety, social anxiety, intrusive cognitions, traumatic reexperiencing, and avoidance. The MEDI factor structure, reliability, and convergent/discriminant validity was evaluated in outpatients with emotional disorders (pilot sample = 227; validation sample = 780). The final 9-factor solution fit the data well. Intercorrelations among MEDI factors were consistent with previous research, and all MEDI dimensions had acceptable reliability. Correlations with common self-report questionnaires and DSM-5 diagnoses supported the convergent/discriminant validity of all nine MEDI dimensions. Collectively, these results support the use of 49-item MEDI in clinical research samples. The MEDI should be used in future research to evaluate the validity of the Brown and Barlow (2009) approach to emotional disorder classification. Because it provides an efficient assessment of several well-established emotional disorder traits and phenotypes, the MEDI also may have utility for general research or clinical purposes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Relations between Positive Temperament, Substance Use, and Internalizing Problems among Adolescents and Young Adults with and without Medical Conditions

ABSTRACTBackground: Substance use problems are prevalent during emerging adulthood and may be particularly harmful for individuals with medical conditions. Understanding the role of positive temperament in substance use for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) may facilitate the identification of intervention and prevention targets given the complex relations between positive emotions and substance use. Objective: To examine whether components of positive temperament differentially relate to substance use in a sample of AYAs with and without medical conditions. Internalizing problems were examined as a secondary outcome given their comorbidity with substance use. Method: In a cross-sectional study that took place in 2015–2016, 494 AYAs (Mage = 19.30 years, SD = 1.33, 73% female) who were enrolled in college completed online questionnaires in a laboratory regarding their levels of positive temperament (i.e., high intensity pleasure and positive affect) as well as their substance use and internalizing problems. The primary analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling. Results: For healthy AYAs, high intensity pleasure was positively associated with drug and alcohol use problems and positive affect was negatively associated with drug use problems. Among AYAs with medical conditions, high intensity pleasure was positively associated with alcohol use problems. Positive affect was negatively associated with internalizing problems for both groups. Conclusions/Importance: Findings identify paths between components of temperament and substance use and internalizing problems that may inform prevention and intervention efforts tailored to the unique and overlapping needs of AYAs with a range of healthcare demands.

Individuals’ Self-Defining Memories As Reflecting Their Strength and Weaknesses

The associations between attachment orientations, temperament, resilience, and various dimensions of self-defining memories were examined in 83 female Israeli adolescents and young adults. Resiliency and positive temperament were associated with positive qualities of memories, whereas negative emotionality and reactivity were associated with poor recollection quality. Lower levels of fearful attachment orientation were associated with interpersonal memories and mixed emotions in memories, and a profound-distrust attachment orientation was associated with life-threatening memories. The study highlights the contribution of these qualities to recollections and underscores the contribution to theory and practical implications.

Mother-son discrepant reporting on parenting practices: The contribution of temperament and depression.

Despite low to moderate convergent correlations, assessment of youth typically relies on multiple informants for information across a range of psychosocial domains including parenting practices. Although parent-youth informant discrepancies have been found to predict adverse youth outcomes, few studies have examined contributing factors to the explanation of informant disagreements on parenting practices. The current study represents the first investigation to concurrently examine the role of mother and son's self-reported affective dimensions of temperament and depression as pathways to informant discrepancies on parenting practices. Within a community sample of 174 mother-son dyads, results suggest that whereas mother's self-reported temperament evidenced no direct effects on discrepancies, the association between the product term of mother's negative and positive temperament and discrepancies on positive parenting was fully mediated by mother's depression (a mediated moderation). In contrast, son's self-reported temperament evidenced both direct and indirect effects, partially mediated by depression, on rating discrepancies for positive parenting. All told, both son's self-reported affective dimensions of temperament and depression contributed to the explanation of discrepant reporting on parenting practices; only mother's self-reported depression, but not temperament, uniquely contributed. Results highlight the importance of considering both parent and youth's report in the investigation of informant discrepancies on parenting practices. (PsycINFO Database Record

Clinical and personality traits in emotional disorders: Evidence of a common framework.

Certain clinical traits (e.g., ruminative response style, self-criticism, perfectionism, anxiety sensitivity, fear of negative evaluation, and thought suppression) increase the risk for and chronicity of emotional disorders. Similar to traditional personality traits, they are considered dispositional and typically show high temporal stability. Because the personality and clinical-traits literatures evolved largely independently, connections between them are not fully understood. We sought to map the interface between a widely studied set of clinical and personality traits. Two samples (N = 385 undergraduates; N = 188 psychiatric outpatients) completed measures of personality traits, clinical traits, and an interview-based assessment of emotional-disorder symptoms. First, the joint factor structure of these traits was examined in each sample. Second, structural equation modeling was used to clarify the effects of clinical traits in the prediction of clinical symptoms beyond negative temperament. Third, the incremental validity of clinical traits beyond a more comprehensive set of higher-order and lower-order personality traits was examined using hierarchical regression. Clinical and personality traits were highly correlated and jointly defined a 3-factor structure-Negative Temperament, Positive Temperament, and Disinhibition-in both samples, with all clinical traits loading on the Negative Temperament factor. Clinical traits showed modest but significant incremental validity in explaining symptoms after accounting for personality traits. These data indicate that clinical traits relevant to emotional disorders fit well within the traditional personality framework and offer some unique contributions to the prediction of psychopathology, but it is important to distinguish their effects from negative temperament/neuroticism. (PsycINFO Database Record