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Abstract: Background: The association between childhood family structure and sociodemographic characteristics and personality disorders (PDs) in a general population sample was studied. Methods: This study is a substudy of the prospective Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Project with 1588 young adult subjects. The case-finding methods according to the DSM-III-R criteria for PDs were: (1) Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) for 321 cases who participated in a 2-phase field study, (2) Finnish Hospital Discharge Register data, and (3) analysis of the patient records in public outpatient care in 1982–1997. Statistical analyses were performed on the association between PDs and family background factors. Results: Altogether 110 (7.0%) of the subjects had at least one probable or definite PD. After adjusting for confounders (gender, parental social class and parental psychiatric disorder) the results indicated that single-parent family type in childhood was associated with cluster B PDs in adulthood. Being an only child in childhood was associated with cluster A PDs. No special childhood risk factors were found for cluster C PDs. Conclusions: Results suggest that single-parent family type at birth and being an only child in the 1960s are associated with PD in adulthood. Further studies are needed to explore the psychosocial aspects of family environment which may nowadays promote vulnerability to PDs in adulthood. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Miettunen J, Kantojärvi L, Ekelund J, Veijola J, Karvonen JT, Peltonen L, Järvelin MR, Freimer N, Lichtermann D, Joukamaa M. A large population cohort provides normative data for investigation of temperament. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2004: 110: 150–157. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2004. We evaluated the psychometric properties of widely used scales for assessing temperament in a large birth cohort. We simultaneously compared the properties of the temperament dimensions of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and of the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). As part of the 31-year follow-up survey of the prospective Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort, the TPQ and TCI temperament questions were filled in by 4349 subjects (1974 males, 2375 males). Factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha were used to explore the psychometric properties of the scales. Of the three higher-order dimensions the reward dependence (RD) was the only one performing poorly in our study sample. Cronbach's alpha was higher in the TCI than in the TPQ. The results indicate good performance of the TCI and TPQ. Factor analysis support adoption of four temperament dimensions and suggest that developmental work is still needed in the RD dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]