The role of temperament and character of personality in predicting emotion regulation in patients with emotional disorders

There is little evidence about the relationship between temperamental and characterological dimensions of personality and emotion regulation (ER), and the nature of these relationships is not exactly clear. In other words, it is still unclear whether ER strategies have essentially biological basis or are influenced by learning. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between temperament and character of personality with ER, and also to determine the predicting role of those in ER.

This cross-sectional study was carried out from October 2016 to June 2017 in Tehran. The sample was conveniently selected from patients with emotional disorders who were recruited to psychological and psychiatricic clinics of Iran, Tehran and Shahid Beheshti medical sciences universities (n=262, male=52.9 %). The data were gathered by TCI-R and ERQ questionnaires, and analyzed using correlation and regression analysis. All calculation done via R version 3.4.0.

Among the temperamental and characterological dimensions of personality, persistence had significant correlation (P< 0.05) with ER strategies, i.e. reappraisal (r =.14) and suppression (r = -.20). According to regression analysis, it was found that persistence had a significant role in predicting ER.

There is a relationship between the temperamental traits of personality - the traits that have genetic and biological basis - and ER strategies. This finding confirmed the biological foundations of ER and indicates the need to pay attention to biological aspects of emotional disorders in the treatment, especially chronic emotional disorders.