Differences in temperament and character dimensions in adolescents with various conduct disorders

Adolescence is characterized both by a large developmental potential and by an increased risk for emergence of different forms of psychopathology. International classifications of mental disorders recognize the psychopathology of adolescence at the age of 15−18 through the categories of conduct disorders and some forms of addiction: chemical and non-chemical. The aim of this research was to analyse the personality structure among four groups of adolescents manifesting different types of conduct disorder based on Cloninger’s Psychobiological theory of personality.

The research sample consisted of 140 respondents at the age of 16−18, divided into five groups: 30 respondents manifesting socialized conduct disorder, 20 adolescents in conflict with the law, 30 respondents manifesting abuse of psychoactive substances, 30 respondents with the problem of the Internet addiction and 30 from general population. The Belgrade Adolescent Personality Inventory (BAPI) questionnaire was used for the purpose of assessment of personality. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), followed by univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine differences between the given groups of adolescents.

The results of MANOVA show differences in the personality structure among the groups, both in the dimensions of temperament, F (20,418.84) = 2.71, p < 0.001, Wilks’s lambda 0.67, and in the dimensions of character, F (12,344.24) = 3.27, p < 0.001, Wilks’s lambda is 0.75. Socialized conduct disorder is characterized by low selfdirectedness and average cooperativeness. Adolescents in conflict with the law have the lowest persistence, together with low self-directedness and cooperativeness. Adolescents abusing psychoactive substances have low harm avoidance and self-transcendence. Adolescents with Internet addiction are characterized by high novelty seeking (impulsivity and curiosity), low self-directedness and the lowest cooperativeness.

The results show that the dimensions of personality can play an important role in etiopathogenesis of various disorders in adolescents.