The factor structure of the Chinese version of the Temperament and Character Inventory: factorial robustness and association with age and gender.

OBJECTIVE To examine the factor structure of the 144-item Chinese version of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and its association with age and gender in a large non-clinical population. METHOD We recruited 1966 non-clinical participants in China who completed the TCI Chinese version. They were randomly divided into two independent samples. One sample (n=983) was used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and the other (n=983) for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). RESULTS An EFA suggested a four-factor structure for temperament domains and a three-factor structure for character domains. This was confirmed by a CFA. Women showed significantly higher scores on harm avoidance, reward dependence, co-operativeness, and self-transcendence than men. Age affected every subscale expect for reward dependence. CONCLUSION The factor structure of the Chinese TCI was similar to the original factor structure, with some differences reflecting the culture of a Chinese population.