Validation and normative studies of the Brazilian Portuguese and American versions of the Temperament and Character Inventory - Revised (TCI-R).

BACKGROUND

The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was first described in 1993. It was designed to measure the character and temperament dimensions of Cloninger's model of personality using a true-false response format. The revised TCI (TCI-R) uses a five-point-Likert format and has multiple subscales for persistence to improve its reliability. We tested the clinical validity of an original Brazilian-Portuguese translation of the TCI-R.

METHODS

The 595 volunteers completed the BrP version of TCI-R, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS).

RESULTS

The internal consistency was satisfactory for all dimensions (Cronbach alpha coefficients above 0.7). The cumulative variances for temperament and character were 58% and 60%. BAI was positively correlated with harm avoidance and negatively with persistence, self-directedness and cooperativeness. SWLS was correlated negatively with harm avoidance and positively with self-directedness and cooperativeness. The congruence coefficients between each facet of BrP TCI-R and the US TCI-R original data were 95% or higher (except NS1).

LIMITATIONS

The main limitation of this study is the convenience sampling.

CONCLUSIONS

The BrP version of the TCI-R had good psychometric properties regardless of the cultural and educational backgrounds of subjects. The present study supported the validity of the BrP translation of the TCI-R, which encourages its use in both clinical and general community samples.