TRIDIMENSIONAL PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE - SOME RESULTS ON THE VALIDITY OF A GERMAN VERSION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

The "Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire" (TPQ), a 100 items true/false questionnaire, measures 3 dimensions postulated by the unified biosocial personality model [4]: novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA) and reward dependence (RD). A German version of the TPQ was tested in samples of 243 normal probands and 59 schizophrenics (contrast group). In probands Cronbach's alpha coefficients were slightly lower than expected (0.63, 0.65, 0.57), stability over time (3 months) was good (0.62-0.79). To test external validity we used simultaneously 2 other established personality questionnaires: "Freiburger Personlichkeitsinventar" and the IPC-questionnaire for multidimensional locus of control. Schizophrenic patients scored lower in NS and higher in HA compared to controls (discriminance analysis). Overall, our results replicated TPQ-mean-values in USA and other countries, but due to the presented results the German version will be improved in concordance with the US version.