Abstract:

Objective   To explore personality traits in patients with schizophrenia, and to explore its relationship with childhood trauma. Methods   Two hundred and ten  patients with schizophrenia (the case group) and 190 healthy individuals (the control group) were investigated with tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ) and childhood trauma questionnaire-short form (CTQ-SF). Results   The harm-avoidance dimension scores in the case group were higher compared with the control group(P<0.01); the reward-dependence dimension scores were lower in the case group than those in the control group(P<0.01). The noveltyseeking dimension scores were significantly related to emotional abuse, sexual abuse and the CTQ-SF total scores (P<0.01). The harm-avoidance dimension scores were significantly related to physical neglect scores(P<0.05). The reward-dependence dimension scores were significantly related to sexual abuse and the CTQ-SF total score (P<0.05). Multivariate stepwise regression analysis found that emotional abuse was the optimum predictor for novelty-seeking dimension and CTQ -SF total score was the optimum predictor for reward-dependence dimension. Conclusion   Patients with schizophrenia have unique characteristics in TPQ′s harm-avoidance dimension and reward-dependence dimension, and childhood trauma may influence their personality characteristics.

Key words: Schizophrenia; Personality trait; Childhood trauma