Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the temperament and character inventory

The Temperament and Character Inventory was translated into Japanese, and, to confirm the psychometric properties of the inventory, three samples were recruited from a nonpatient population. In nonpatient population A (N=555), the full version (240 items) of the inventory with dichotomous measuring, along with the General Health Questionnaire and the Social Desirability Scale, were distributed to the subjects. Factor analyses of the subscales showed that the factor structure of the inventory was consistent with Cloninger's theory. Correlations of the scale scores with the General Health Questionnaire and the Social Desirability Scale scores were almost negligible, indicating that the scale is resistant to the current psychopathology and response bias. In this and the other two university student samples (ns=395 and 377), Cronbach coefficients α of the scale scores were substantially high except for the short version (125 items) of the inventory with dichotomous measures. The Japanese version of the inventory appears to have internal reliability and content and construct validity in a Japanese population.