Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess dimensions of temperament as defined by Cloninger's neurobiological model using the tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ) in a sample of consecutively recruited schizophrenic patients.
Subjects and methods: We used the French version of the TPQ to compare 45 stable, euthymic schizophrenic patients with 126 controls with no personal or familial history of psychiatric disorder. After comparison of TPQ scores between groups, we also performed a multivariate analysis to avoid the confounding effects of age, gender, and alcohol and substance use disorder comorbidity.
Results: Harm avoidance (HA) was higher in schizophrenic patients than in controls.
Discussion and conclusion: This replicates and extends the results of previous studies suggesting that schizophrenic patients have high HA and that HA might be a marker for underlying genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia.