Temperament, Character, and Self-Esteem in Relation to Occupational Performance in Individuals with Schizophrenia

Abstract

Occupational therapy researchers have tried to clarify the links between occupation and state-like characteristics, such as people's experienced health, disability, and quality of life. However, to fully examine the spectrum of potential influences on occupation, trait-like features should also be investigated. This study focused on personality and self-related factors, in terms of temperament, character, and self-esteem, and how these influenced certain facets of daily occupation (activity level, occupational engagement, and satisfaction with daily occupations) in 72 adults with schizophrenia. Trait properties were associated with different facets of daily occupation. Self-esteem and the temperament dimension “persistence” explained most of the variance in both activity level and occupational engagement, whereas the character dimension “self-directedness” accounted for most of the variance in satisfaction with daily occupations. Thus, both the character and self aspects, regarded as influenced by social learning and developing over time, and the temperament dimensions, regarded as innate traits that are stable over time, exhibited such relationships. The findings highlight the role of people's trait-like properties in relation to their capacity for occupational performance, an area that has been addressed in theoretical discussions but needs to be further explored in empirical studies. If the findings of this study can be replicated in future studies, the effect of personality on occupational performance should be carefully considered in occupational therapy practice.