Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Revised Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-140) in a Psychiatric Outpatient Sample in Iran

Cloninger first proposed the personality theory, considering both normal and abnormal personality traits. Later, different complementary versions of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) found their way into the academic milieu to enhance their psychometric properties and efficiency in both experimental and clinical settings.

The main objective of the current research was to investigate the principal psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-140).

This research is a cross-sectional study. The data included information on psychiatric outpatients visiting Roozbeh psychiatric hospital in 9 months in 2021. Purposive sampling was performed on volunteers. A total of 471 outpatients filled out the TCI-140, 150 of whom also filled out the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed using principal component analysis (PCA) by Promax rotation.

The internal consistency of all dimensions (Cronbach’s alpha: Above 0.70, except for reward dependence) was proved to be satisfactory, but that of some subscales (NS1, NS4, RD4, CO3, and CO5) was quite poor. Test-retest reliability confirmed that for all dimensions, ICC > 0.70, indicating a high reliability. The findings of the PCA revealed that all dimensions were loaded in accordance with the theoretical expectations. At the facet level, all the facets were loaded on their factors except for sentimentality and dependence. According to the correlation findings, the concurrent validity of TCI-140 was acceptable for PID-5. The results showed that HA had relatively high positive correlations with detachment (r = 0.55) and negative affect (r = 0.48).

The results confirmed the satisfactory reliability and validity of the Persian version of TCI-140 despite its drawbacks. Hence, it can be employed to examine personality traits.