Validation of the Sasang Personality Questionnaire in high school students

Abstract

BackgroundThe Sasang Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) is an objective measure of Yin–Yang temperament of Sasang typology with proven clinical and structural validity; however, it has not been validated in people younger than 20 years. The purpose of this study was to examine the biopsychological structure of the SPQ in high school students.MethodsA total of 670 Korean high school students (365 boys and 305 girls) completed the SPQ, Junior version of Temperament and Character Inventory (JTCI), and weight and height measures. The correlation between the SPQ and JTCI subscales was investigated, and the differences of these subscales, body mass index, and Pondera Index between the high (30%), middle (40%), and low (30%) SPQ total score groups were examined with analysis of variance. The profile analysis was also performed to compare JTCI subscale profiles of the three SPQ total score groups.ResultsThe SPQ total score significantly correlated positively with JTCI novelty seeking (r = 0.548 and r = 0.540) and negatively with JTCI harm avoidance (r = –0.393 and r = –0.395) in boys and girls, respectively. The JTCI novelty-seeking score is significantly higher in the high SPQ total score group (24.12 ± 5.27 and 24.15 ± 5.17 for boys and girls, respectively) than in the low SPQ total score group (16.49 ± 5.08 and 17.24 ± 4.83, respectively), and the JTCI harm-avoidance score is significantly higher in the low SPQ total score group (25.34 ± 6.08 and 26.64 ± 5.77 for boys and girls, respectively) than in the high SPQ total score group (19.27 ± 6.62 and 19.23 ± 6.00, respectively). The JTCI subscale profiles for the three SPQ total score groups were significantly different for boys (degrees of freedom = 3.416, F = 292.16, p < 0.001) and girls (degrees of freedom = 3.4, F = 230.51, p < 0.001). There were no significant correlations or differences in body mass index and Pondera Index among the SPQ total score groups.ConclusionThe results showed that the biopsychological structure of the SPQ in adolescents is robust, similar to that in the adult population. The SPQ might be useful for the application of Sasang typology in pediatrics.

Validity of Yin-Yang temperament in Sasang Personality Questionnaire

“…As for the further study, the SPQ for measuring Yin-Yang temperament would need revision for several reasons. The width between the lowest and highest SPQ score of uncertain temperament group was 4-7 in this ( Table 6 ) and previous 7 , 18 , 20 studies, which is relatively small for the clinical use. The variance of SPQ score should be enlarged to provide more precise and detailed cut-off score for Yin-Yang temperament group clustering 14 by adding more questionnaire items not keen to gender and age difference and introducing more than 3 point likert scale with the help of previous biopsychological studies on Yin-Yang temperament and Sasang typology.…”

“…The SPQ is a clinical instrument for Yin-Yang temperament with proven validity in adults of 20s-70s, 2 , 9 , 14 high school students, 18 , 19 middle school students 7 , 17 and elementary school students. 20 Though previous studies 9 , 21 have showed acceptable test-retest validity of SPQ with limited number of medical students and others, however, this study provided generalizable stability with large sample sized university students in Busan metropolitan area.…”

“…The SPQ was reported to have reliable psychobiological structure when compared with well-established western personality tests of Temperament and Character Inventory and NEO Personality Inventory, 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 and satisfactory clinical validity in adults, 9 , 14 , 15 , 16 adolescents 7 , 17 , 18 , 19 and elementary students. 20 The SPQ-Behavior was reported to be related with vitality 15 and the SPQ-Emotionality was shown to predict psychopathological features in adolescents.…”

The Yin-Yang personality from biopsychological perspective using revised Sasang Personality Questionnaire

“…Third, the revision in the current study provided the operational definition of Yin-Yang personality clearly and distinctively by lowering the correlation coefficient among the three rSPQ subscales ( Table 3 ). Previous studies using the SPQ showed significant correlations between SPQ-Behavior and SPQ-Cognition in preschoolers, 28 elementary students, 27 , 28 middle school students, 26 , 36 high school students 12 , 29 and university students, 11 , 13 as well as adults 13 showing correlation coefficient ranged from 0.256 to 0.541. However, the current study showed no significant correlation coefficient between rSPQ-Behavior and rSPQ-Emotion subscales ( Table 3 ), and no significant correlations (r = −0.063∼0.111) among the three rSPQ subscales ( Table 5 ).…”

“…Second, adolescents may have difficulty in recognizing and responding to some SPQ items, 26 and gender differences in SPQ-Cognition subscale have also been reported. 12 , 27 , 28 , 29 For example, content of certain questions, such as “Do you consider yourself feminine or masculine?” and “Do you tend to be relatively direct or indirect when expressing yourself”, might have different connotations, depending on the gender, age and cultural background of the individuals. Thus, it requires rectification for easy and correct understandings.…”