Temperamental factors in children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and in normal controls

Abstract

We studied parent-rated temperamental traits in patients (n=83) with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as compared with children and adolescents matched for age and gender (n=85) using the EAS (Emotionality, Activity, Sociability) questionnaire. Specifically, two hypotheses of OCD were studied: (1) the presence of behavioural inhibition (BI) and (2) of high levels of emotionality utilising ANOVA analyses, controlling for gender and age group (children vs. adolescents). The presence of BI in OCD patients was confirmed in that they scored higher than controls on ‘Shyness’ [F (df=7)=2.69, p<0.012] but lower on ‘Activity’ [F (df=7)=3.01, p<0.005]. Also, our second hypothesis was corroborated in that OCD patients scored higher than controls on ‘Emotionality’ [F (df=7)=3.59, p<0.001]. A third hypothesis, the presence of temperamental heterogeneity in OCD, was likewise confirmed. We found, using hierarchical cluster analyses, two subgroups of about equal size, an ‘Inhibited/Shy’ group (n=44), high in ‘Shyness’ and low in ‘Emotionality’, ‘Sociability’ and ‘Activity’, and an ‘Uninhibited’ group (n=32) that was high in ‘Emotionality’, ‘Sociability’ and ‘Activity’, but low in ‘Shyness’. However, the temperamental subgroups gave no clear picture with regard to the most common symptom patterns.