Structure of Temperament Questionnaire
Structure of Temperament Questionnaire (STQ) is a test to measure 12 biologically and neurochemically based individual differences. Purpose and format The Structure of Temperament Questionnaire (STQ) is a self-report (for adult versions) or observer-administered (for children) 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 validated on adult samples and were designed for the purposes of organizational, educational and clinical psychology. Now there are Child versions of the Short and Compact STQ, for administration by observers and guardians of the child in question. 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 (1)," "disagree (2)," "agree (3)," "strongly agree (4)". The Compact STQ (STQ-77) is the only temperament test based on neurochemical framework of temperament (see Functional Ensemble 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 (110 years old) 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 (Pavlov, 1941, 1957). It then was continued within the Laboratory of Differential Psychophysiology and Differential Psychology (Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences), supervised by Boris Teplov (1963), then Vladimir Nebylitsyn (1972), 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 (STQ-150) and a Short STQ (STQ-26) Both versions use 12 scales, which are grouped by 3 types of activities and 4 formal-dynamical aspects of activities, and a validity scale: The Extended STQ is a 150-item self-report measure with 144 items assigned to 12 temperament scales (12 items each), 1 validity scale (6 items), 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 (Extended) version,