Bogdan Zawadzki

The Formal Characteristics of Behaviour—Temperament Inventory (FCB—TI): Validity studies

A psychometric study has been conducted with the aim of testing the validity of the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour—Temperament Inventory (FCB—TI). FCB—TI has been constructed to measure six temperament traits according to the Regulative Theory of Temperament (RTT): Briskness, Perseverance (referring to the temporal aspect of behavior), Sensory Sensitivity, Emotional Reactivity, Endurance, and Activity (referring to the energetic characteristics of behaviour). These traits have been compared with other temperament as well as personality dimensions. The following measures were used: PTS, EAS—TS, DOTS—R, EPQ—R, SSS—V, 16PF, and NEO‐FFI. The study was conducted on samples consisting of over 1500 subjects with satisfactory balanced gender ratio (about 50 per cent), and with a broad range of age (from 15 to 77 years), representing a variety of professions and educational levels. The correlational and factor analytic findings are presented; these show high theoretical validity of the FCB—TI scales, except the Sensory Sensitivity scale. In the discussion some conclusions concerning the revision of the structure of temperament have been suggested.

The Formal Characteristics of Behaviour-Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI): theoretical assumptions and scale construction

A psychometric study has been conducted with the aims of revising the structure of temperament as postulated by the Regulative Theory of Temperament (RTT) and of constructing an inventory which corresponds to the RTT. A starting point for the study was the assumption that temperament refers to formal attributes of behaviour expressed in energetic and temporal characteristics. About 600 items covering 12 characteristics were generated. A study based on linguistic and itemmetric analysis allowed us to reduce the number of items representing the 12 characteristics to a 381‐item pool. This set of items served as the basis for distinguishing the temperamental traits and for constructing the inventory: the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour–Temperament Inventory (FCB‐TI). A thorough psychometric study and factor analysis of data obtained from over 2000 subjects (both genders, aged from 15 to 80 years) allowed us to distinguish six temperamental traits which have the status of first‐order factors. Among them, four–Sensory Sensitivity, Endurance, Emotional Reactivity, and Activity–refer to the energetic aspect of behaviour and two–Briskness and Perseverance–refer to the temporal characteristics. The FCB‐TI has satisfactory psychometric characteristics, including Cronbach alpha and stability measures. Studies have shown that the six FCB‐TI scales are replica across samples and refer to robust temperament dimensions.

Genetic and environmental determinants of temperament: a comparative study based on Polish and German samples

This study of 1555 adult mono‐ and dizygotic twins reared together estimates the heritability of temperament traits in a Polish and a German sample. We test whether the etiology of temperament traits differs between the two cultures and between different temperament traits. We assessed temperament traits with the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour–Temperament Inventory (FCB‐TI), the Pavlovian Temperament Survey (PTS), the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS‐R), and the Emotionality–Activity–Sociability Temperament Survey (EAS‐TS). Taking error of measurement into account, genetic sources of variance explained about 50% of the variance of temperament traits. We found neither reliable cultural differences nor robust differences in the etiology of the traits. However, the four questionnaires differed systematically with respect to the proportion of genetic and environmental influences on their scales. Copyright

Trauma and temperament as predictors of intensity of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms after disaster

Abstract. This study assesses the impact of temperament and trauma considered as predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms experienced during flood and coal mining accidents. Five samples were studied - one comprised of coal miners who experienced a mining catastrophe (N = 52) and four samples of flood victims (N = 1041), including 562 females. PTSD symptoms were measured - depending on the sample under study - at different time periods (from 3 months to 3 years), and in two samples repeated measures were taken. For measuring symptoms of PTSD the PTSD-Factorial Version inventory constructed in our laboratory was applied. Temperamental traits were assessed by means of the Formal Characteristics of Behavior - Temperament Inventory. Intensity of trauma and prolonged trauma consequences were measured by means of an interview. For analyzing the data coefficients of correlation and hierarchical regression were used. In all samples such temperament traits as briskness and endurance act as buffe...

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Temperament

Among the criteria for a personality paradigm the following three are the most crucial: biological basis (e. g., genetic contribution to the phenotypic variance), universality (existence of traits in different cultures) and reality (possibility to measure traits by different methods). The present study combines all three criteria to explore the impact of genetic and environmental factors on temperamental traits, as stipulated by Strelaus regulative theory of temperament, across two culturally different samples (Polish and German), and by means of two diagnostic methods (self-report and peer-rating). The analysis was conducted on data obtained from 1009 same-sex pairs of twins (German sample) and 546 same-sex pairs of twins (Polish sample). For each subject the self-report as well as rating from two independent peers was recorded by both the Polish and German versions of the Formal Characteristics of Behavior-Temperament Inventory. Results demonstrate substantial heritability of temperamental traits, alth...

The Formal Characteristics of Behaviour–Temperament Inventory (FCB-TI): preliminary results of the Italian version

Abstract This paper presents the process of construction of the Italian version of the Formal Characteristics of Behaviour–Temperament Inventory, the instrument which was originally developed in Polish. This questionnaire measures six temperamental traits, according to Strelau’s concept of temperament. The process of constructing the Italian version consisted of translating an initial pool of 381 items, applied also in the Polish study and psychometric analysis, based on data obtained from 493 respondents (300 females and 193 males) aged from 15 to 75 years. All steps of the psychometric analysis were identical to the Polish version. Findings indicated that the Italian FCB-TI has similar psychometric properties and generally satisfactory reliability and validity.

The Temperamental Determinants of Stressors as Life Changes

Behavioral genetic studies have demonstrated the heritability of many variables taken to be measures of environment and previously thought to be determined only by environment. It has been also shown that personal variables may determine the appearance of stressors understood as life changes (events). The hypothesis underlying this study predicted that the genetic factor does not contribute to the variance of subject-independent stressors, whereas in case of subject-dependent stressors the contribution of the genetic factor is essential. Further, it was hypothesized that temperamental traits that moderate the intensity of experienced stressors account for a considerable portion of the genetic variance of subject-dependent stressors. The study was conducted on 245 pairs of MZ and 219 pairs of DZ twins aged from 19 to 66. Stressors were assessed with the Polish adaptation of the Rahes Recent Life Changes Questionnaire. Based on two preliminary studies, life events were divided into three following categori...

Reactivity, arousal, and coping with stress

This research stems from a recent finding (Klonowicz, 1987) that reactivity, which is considered as a basic dimension of temperament (Strelau, 1983), controls both the level of anticipatory arousal and its emotional tone. High reactives responded to conditions of uncertainty with a high level of general arousal and negative affect as reflected by their lesser readiness to work and higher self-reported levels of anxiety and tension. ‘Uncertainty’, in this study, referred to the questions of ‘what will happen’ and ‘when’ which constitute major sources of stress (Folkman, Schaefer and Lazarus, 1979; Lazarus and Launier, 1978). The negatively biased anticipation may reflect at least two phenomena. It seems possible that high reactives expect the worst and believe an unknown event to be potentially harmful. This pessimistic attitude may be the result of previous experience or general beliefs, like a belief in one’s own helplessness. The negative expectancy may interfere with effective coping both directly, through avoidance or unwillingness to initiate activity, and indirectly, by stimulating disruptive, negative emotions. Meichenbaum and Turk (1980) concluded that inadequate performance is related to self-referent negative thoughts involving preoccupation with imagined personal deficiencies, exaggerations of potential difficulties, and expectations of inefficacy. Carver and Scheier (1981) claim that worries are likely to reduce performance because they focus attention on the self rather than the relevant task. Another possibility is that the anticipatory ‘work of worrying’ may actually be a cognitive rehearsal which can facilitate the coping with future events (Breznitz, 1971; Fenz, 1975; Janis, 1958). This alternative suggests that there can be an advantage in the negative expectancy (cf. Epstein, 1973) even though it is inaccurate and will be eventually discarded (Klonowicz, 1987), because it may reduce the actual impact of a stimulus event. The current study was undertaken to investigate the effect of anticipated emotions on performance and aftereffects of performance in high and low reactive persons. The contrast in the two suggested outcomes of anticipatory arousal, increased or reduced performance, indicates that the empirical findings are thus far equivocal. While some data show that people can learn to modulate and use their emotions to good advantage, other data suggest the contrary. The effect of initial expectancies, or anticipation, depends on a number of factors such as the nature of the stressor and its duration (Averill, 1973; Harsh and Abbott, 1979), prior experience with the stressor (Epstein, Rosenthal and Szpiler, 1978; Fenz, 1975), controllability of the stressor or availability of means for coping, the duration of preparation time (i.e. the time allowed for anticipatory activity; Averill, O’Brien and Dewitt, 1977; Badia et al., 1979; Breznitz, 1967; Miller, 1979) accuracy of expectancies (Breznitz, 1976); individual differences in coping strategies (Averill et al., 1977; Miller, 1979), and stress relevant information (Averill, 1973; Cohen and Lazarus, 1973; Janis, 1958). Moreover, the literature suggests that there is no simple relationship between any of these factors and subsequent functioning and that the various factors interact in affecting performance. As an example, the classical studies of Fenz (1975) and Epstein indicated that the timing of anticipatory arousal depended on the experience with the stressor. The complexity of the variables and their effects is the reason why no specific hypotheses were formulated for the current study which concerns the effects of anticipation on subsequent functioning of lowand highreactive persons. An additional problem investigated in this study concerns the positive aftereffects of work. The literature in this area (Cohen, 1980; Klonowicz, 1973, 1974, 1985) suggests a great preoccupation

Search for a curvilinear relationship between the sense of coherence and the intensity of PTSD in MVA survivors.

Abstract The relationship between the sense of coherence (SOC) and the intensity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was examined in order to determine its nature and to resolve the inconsistencies between (1) a growing body of empirical research that indicates a linear relationship between these variables, and (2) the schema-based theories of PTSD that suggest a curvilinear relationship between cognitions and the intensity of PTSD. In this cross-sectional study an attempt was also made to identify some psychological factors that moderate this relationship. Participants were a sample of 1132 motor vehicle accident (MVA) survivors. The results showed that gender and temperamental predisposition to PTSD constituted moderator variables of the relationship between SOC and the intensity of PTSD. This supported both the empirical evidence on the linear and negative relationship between SOC and the intensity of PTSD and the theories that postulated the curvilinear relationship.

Psychometric properties of a Polish version of the Inventory of Cognitive Affect Regulation Strategies (ICARUS).

The aim of the present study was to develop a Polish version of the Inventory of Cognitive Affect Regulation Strategies (ICARUS) and to examine its psychometric properties in a sample of trauma-exposed individuals. The fidelity of instrument translation was assessed in bilingual retests with 103 undergraduate students of English philology. Psychometric properties were examined in a sample of 1,129 trauma-exposed participants. The Polish version of ICARUS exhibited (a) substantial congruence between item and scale scores with the English version of ICARUS; (b) acceptable internal consistency, ranging from &agr; = .53 for mindful observation and acceptance of emotion to &agr; = .93 for religious thoughts; (c) a 2-factor structure of ICARUS scales identifying active and avoidance-oriented coping strategies; and (d) significant associations with other instruments assessing coping, affect regulation strategies, mood dimensions, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.