Temperament and character in adults with Asperger syndrome.
The TCI gives you a fast, numbers-based snapshot of the anxious, socially hesitant personality common in adults with Asperger syndrome.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Soderstrom et al. (2002) gave the Temperament and Character Inventory to adults with Asperger syndrome. The TCI is a quick pencil-and-paper quiz that maps personality traits like harm avoidance and cooperativeness.
The team wanted to see if the anxious, socially cautious picture clinicians describe could be captured in numbers.
What they found
Adults with Asperger syndrome scored high on harm avoidance and low on self-directedness and cooperativeness. These scores match the shy, self-critical style often seen in clinic notes.
The TCI turned clinical impressions into measurable targets for intervention.
How this fits with other research
Weiss et al. (2001) studied the same adult Asperger group one year earlier. They found high paranoia and weak theory of mind, but normal attributional style. Henrik’s harm-avoidant profile gives the personality backdrop to those social-cognitive struggles.
Spanoudis et al. (2011) later showed that 45% of these adults fear being laughed at, a finding that extends Henrik’s harm-avoidance score into real-world teasing memories.
Lau et al. (2014) widened the lens to parents of kids with ASD. Sub-clinical autistic traits in parents predicted their own anxiety disorders, showing the anxious trait pattern is not limited to diagnosed adults.
Why it matters
You now have a five-minute tool that quantifies social anxiety and low cooperation in adults with Asperger syndrome. Use the TCI at intake to flag harm-avoidant clients who may dodge group sessions or resist parent training. Pair the score with brief interviews about teasing history to tailor social exposures and build self-directed goals that feel safe.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
To study the personality characteristics of adults with Asperger syndrome, and investigate the value of self-rating personality inventories, we administered the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) to 31 outpatients with Asperger syndrome. The TCI is a self-rating personality inventory that has been validated in the Swedish general population. The results were compared with age- and sex-matched norm groups. Participants with Asperger syndrome scored significantly higher on harm avoidance and lower on self-directedness and cooperativeness. Reward dependence and novelty seeking tended to be low. They also had significantly higher rarity scores, reflecting idiosyncratic perspectives. The most common temperament configurations were 'obsessional', 'passive-dependent' and'explosive'. Character, reflecting conceptual maturity, was poorly developed in the majority of our subjects. The self-ratings of persons with Asperger syndrome thus indicated anxious personalities with coping difficulties in the areas of social interaction and self-directedness, a picture corresponding to the clinical descriptions of Asperger syndrome.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2002 · doi:10.1177/1362361302006003006