Structure of Temperament Questionnaire


Structure of Temperament Questionnaire is a test to measure 12 temperament traits, i.e. consistent, biologically and neurochemically based individual differences in behaviour.

Purpose and format

The Structure of Temperament Questionnaire is a self-report or observer-administered questionnaire measuring 12 biologically-based characteristics of behaviour. These characteristics are the most consistent aspects of the behaviour of an individual across his or her lifespan and are relatively independent of the content of the situation. Initially, all versions of the STQ were developed and validated on adult samples and were designed for the purposes of organizational, educational and clinical psychology. Now there are also Child versions of the Short and Compact STQ, for administration by observers and/or guardians of the child. Items in all versions of the STQ are given in the form of a statement, with a response following the Likert scale format: "strongly disagree," "disagree," "agree," "strongly agree ". The Compact STQ is the only temperament test based on neurochemical framework of temperament.

Experimental background of the STQ models

The STQ is based on the Eastern-European tradition of experiments investigating the types and properties of nervous systems. This tradition is the longest in among all traditions of temperamental research. It started from extensive experiments on several species of mammals, and then continued with human adults and children within the Pavlovian Institute of Highest Nervous Activity. It then was continued within the Laboratory of Differential Psychophysiology and Differential Psychology, supervised by Boris Teplov, then Vladimir Nebylitsyn, and then Vladimir Rusalov.
The STQ has several versions, which are based on two models of the structure of temperament: Rusalov's model and Trofimova's model. All versions of the STQ are based on the Activity-specific approach in temperament research. This approach differentiates between the traits related to 3 aspects of behaviour: social-verbal, physical and mental. All models and all modern versions of the STQ have 12 temperament scales.

Rusalov's versions of the STQ

There are two versions of the Structure of Temperament Questionnaire based on Rusalov's model: an Extended STQ and a Short STQ
Both versions use 12 scales, which are grouped by 3 types of activities and 4 formal-dynamical aspects of activities, and a validity scale:
Image:Rusalov's STQ.jpg|right|thumb|500px|Rusalov's model of the STQ
The Extended STQ is a 150-item self-report measure with 144 items assigned to 12 temperament scales, 1 validity scale, and 6 indexes, which combine these scales. The values on each of temperament scales vary between 12 and 48. The validity scale is designed to measure a social desirability tendency. The value on this scale varies from 6 and 24, and protocols having a score higher than 17 on this scale are considered to be invalid.
Testing with the STQ-150 takes 30 minutes.
There was also an initial version of Rusalov's model, STQ-105, which used the same items and scales as the 8 scales of the STQ-150 version, with the exception of the three scales related to intellectual aspects of activities. Rusalov upgraded his model to 12 components implemented in his Extended STQ in the mid-1990s.
Rusalov's version of the STQ measures 12 traits related to 4 aspects of behaviour, which are grouped by three aspects of behavior: motor-physical, social-verbal and intellectual. This model was incorporated in the extended Structure of Temperament Questionnaire. The factor analysis of the data received on Russian, Australian, American, Canadian, Urdu-Canadian, Polish-Canadian and Chinese samples confirmed a separation between the factors related to these three aspects of behavior.
Administration of the Extended STQ in practice was rather time-consuming, so Rusalov and Trofimova agreed to develop shorter, more compact versions of the STQ, which would be more suitable for screening purposes in clinical, organizational, vocational and educational settings. The items with the highest item-total correlations were selected for these versions. Rusalov developed the Short version of the STQ, and Trofimova developed the Compact version of the STQ. The Short STQ is composed of 2 out of 12 items on each scale of the Extended STQ, including the validity scale. This version was adapted for the assessment of adults, teenagers, preschool and early school children.

Compact version of the STQ (STQ-77) (Trofimova's version)

During the studies of psychometric properties of the Extended STQ and a selection of the most valid items for the Compact version of the STQ Irina Trofimova suggested an update of the structure of the STQ based on her analysis of functionality of neurotransmitters, hormones and opioid systems (known as neurochemical framework Functional Ensemble of Temperament

Description of the temperament scales of the STQ-77

  • Mental Endurance, or Attention : the ability to stay focused on selected features of objects with suppression of behavioural reactivity to other features
  • Motor-physical Endurance : the ability of an individual to sustain prolonged physical activity using well-defined behavioural elements
  • Social-verbal Endurance : the ability of an individual to sustain prolonged social-verbal activities using well-defined behavioural elements
  • Plasticity : the ability to adapt quickly to changes in situations, to change the program of action, and to shift between different tasks
  • Motor-physical Tempo : speed of integration of physical manipulations of objects according to pre-defined scripts of actions
  • Social-verbal Tempo : the preferred speed of speech and ability to understand fast speech on well-known topics, reading and sorting of known verbal material
  • Sensitivity to Probabilities : the drive to gather information about uniqueness, frequency and values of objects/events, to differentiate their specific features, to project these features in future actions
  • Sensation Seeking : behavioural orientation to well-defined and existing sensational objects and events, underestimation of outcomes of risky behaviour
  • Empathy : behavioural orientation to the emotional states/needs of others
  • Neuroticism : A tendency to avoid novelty, unpredictable situations and uncertainty. Preference of well-known settings and people over unknown ones and a need for approval and feedback from people around.
  • Impulsivity : Initiation of actions based on immediate emotional reactivity rather than by planning or rational reasoning
  • Self-Confidence : A sense of security, dominance, self-esteem and in many cases entitlement for appreciation from others. In spite of the optimism about outcomes of his or her activities, the respondent might be negligent in details

    Versions in other languages and validation

Validation history of the STQ-105 and STQ-150

The Extended version was adapted to five languages: English, Russian, Chinese, Polish and Urdu.
Evidence for construct, concurrent and discriminatory validity of the STQ-105 and STQ-150 was demonstrated through significant correlations with the following measures:
  • Alcohol impact.
  • Auditory and visual sensitivity
  • Auditory attention
  • Big Five Questionnaire
  • Brain evoked potentials
  • Cattell 16 Personality Factors Test.
  • Cognitive complexity measures
  • Dembo-Hoppe Level of aspiration
  • Dissociative Experiences Scale
  • DOTS-R
  • EEG data.
  • Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
  • Gotshield IQ test
  • Liri Interpersonal Relations Test
  • Motivation in Achievements/Aspiration Technique
  • Motivation of professional choices measure
  • Motor reaction to auditory stimuli and motor rigidity
  • Pavlovian Temperamental Survey
  • Psychopathology
  • Reading speed and flexibility
  • Rogers adaptivity scale
  • Rosenzveig Test
  • Rotter Locus of Control Scale
  • Self-regulation measures and satisfaction level
  • School/colledge grades
  • School Test of Intellectual Development
  • Shepard IQ test
  • Speed of verbal processing
  • Spielberg State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
  • Psychogenetic studies
  • Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale
  • Thomas & Chess adapted test of temperament
  • Torrance Nonverbal Test of Creative Thinking
  • Verbal tasks.
  • Wechsler IQ test
  • 25 measures of Mobility and Plasticity

    Factor structure of the STQ-150

Factor analysis of the Russian version of the STQ-150 consistently showed four factors: Motor-physical activity, Social-Verbal activity, Intellectual Activity and Emotionality
The administration of the English version of the STQ to American, Australian, and Canadian samples showed that the factor structure of this version is similar to the Russian language version, and that the English version possesses good reliability and internal consistency,
Chinese, Urdu and Polish Extended versions of the STQ, administered among corresponding populations, showed reliability coefficients in the range 0.70-0.86, item-total correlations in the range 0.42-0.73, and all versions demonstrated robust factor structures similar to those of the original version

The validation of the STQ-77

The Compact version was adapted to three languages: English, Russian and Chinese. Moreover, evidence for the construct, concurrent and discriminatory validity of the STQ-77 was demonstrated through significant correlations with the following measures:
  • Beck Anxiety Inventory
  • Comorbid Major Depression and Generalized Anxiety symptoms
  • Five-Factors Personality test
  • EEG studies
  • Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
  • Generalized Anxiety symptoms
  • Hamilton Depression Inventory
  • high-school grades
  • I7 Impulsiveness Questionnaire
  • Major Depression symptoms
  • Motivation in Achievements/Aspiration level scale
  • Pavlovian Temperamental Survey
  • Personality Assessment Inventory
  • Psychotic disorders
  • Rotter Locus of Control Scale
  • speed of performance in mental activities
  • speed of verbal processing
  • State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
  • Symptom Checklist
  • Verbal classification tasks
  • Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scales
The clinical validation studies conducted with the use of the STQ-77 showed that its scales match the structure of symptoms of mental disorders described in main classifications DSM-5 and ICD much better than other temperament models, and they are capable of differentiating between anxiety and depression
The validation of the STQ-77 structure was successful by its comparison to the main findings in neurochemistry. As the result of such comparison the scales of the STQ-77 were linked to the ensemble interactions between main neurotransmitter systems