VALIDATION OF THE GERMAN VERSION OF CLONINGER TPQ - REPLICATION AND CORRELATIONS WITH STRESS COPING, MOOD MEASURES AND DRUG-USE

The tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ) was developed by Cl oninger (1986, 1987a) to measure the independent personality dimension s Novelty Seeking (NS), Harm Avoidance (HA) and Reward Dependence (RD) . After having investigated the basic psychometric properties of a Ger man version of the TPQ in a first study (Weyers et al., 1995), a new s ample of 200 subjects was collected to investigate the reliability of the results of this first study and to add further validity data by in cluding measures of stress coping, mood and drug use. In general, the results of the first study were replicated. The internal consistencies of the superscales NS. HA and RD were high, and a factor analysis of the TPQ subscales yielded some support for Cloninger's personality the ory. Because of its strong correlations with Psychoticism, Extraversio n, Impulsiveness and Sensation Seeking NS seems to tap an impulsivity factor while HA correlates with Neuroticism and Introversion and appea rs to measure a behavioral inhibition factor, the latter interpretatio n being supported by correlations between HA and some mood measures li ke anxiety and self-confidence. In addition, HA showed substantial pos itive correlations with coping strategies like Rumination, Resignation and Self-pity and substantial negative correlations with strategies l ike Self-aggrandizement by Comparison with Others and Positive Self-in structions, while the other two TPQ superscales hardly correlate with any of the coping strategies measured. With respect to drug use, only NS showed small but substantial bivariate correlations with the use of nicotine and psychodysleptics for the last 12 weeks and last 2 years. However, a configurational analysis of the TPQ superscales demonstrat ed that the type Ii alcoholism pattern proposed by Cloninger (high NS, low HA and low RD) was associated with a strong alcohol consumption. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.