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Temperament and character among Korean children and adolescents with anxiety disorders

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the temperament and character of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders in samples from Korean community. The study subjects were children and adolescents diagnosed with social phobia (n = 66), separation anxiety disorder (n = 47), specific phobia (n = 415), and obsessive–compulsive disorder (n = 42) with the diagnostic interview schedule for children, version IV (DISC-IV) in representative community samples. Among these, we excluded other psychiatric disorder comorbid samples, with the exception of externalizing disorders. We assessed the subjects of each anxiety group using the junior temperament and character inventory (JTCI). Social phobias were significantly associated with high harm avoidance and low self-directedness on the JTCI. The association of specific phobias with high harm avoidance, and obsessive–compulsive disorder with low self-directedness was also significant. Separation anxiety disorder was not associated with any temperament and character on the JTCI. Children and adolescents with anxiety disorders have different temperaments and character profiles in accordance with diagnostic groups, which implies the specific pathophysiological mechanism of each anxiety disorder.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Soo-churl Cho MD, PhD, Sun-woo Jung MD, Boong-nyun Kim MD, PhD, Jun-won Hwang MD, PhD, Min-sup Shin PhD, Jae-won Kim MD, PhD, Dong-seon Chungh MD & Hyo-won Kim MD

Authors
  1. Soo-churl Cho MD, PhD
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  2. Sun-woo Jung MD
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  3. Boong-nyun Kim MD, PhD
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  4. Jun-won Hwang MD, PhD
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  5. Min-sup Shin PhD
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  6. Jae-won Kim MD, PhD
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  7. Dong-seon Chungh MD
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  8. Hyo-won Kim MD
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Correspondence to Sun-woo Jung MD.

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Cho, Sc., Jung, Sw., Kim, Bn. et al. Temperament and character among Korean children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 18, 60–64 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-008-0699-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-008-0699-3

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