Prevalence of typus melancholicus in healthy germans

BACKGROUND: There have been few studies concerning the prevalence of Typus melancholicus (TM) in healthy volunteers based on age or sex. To our knowledge, no such studies have been performed in healthy Germans, but several in healthy Japanese people. Therefore, it is necessary to also determine the prevalence of TM in healthy Germans, in order to know whether the prevalence of TM is cross-culturally constant. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We examined the prevalence of TM in 121 healthy German volunteers (62 men and 59 women with a mean age +/- SD of 43.9 +/- 16.8 years and 47.4 +/- 15.9 years, respectively). Kasahara's Inventory for the Melancholic Type Personality (KIMTP) and von Zerssen's F-List (F-List) were used to identify TM. The subjects were divided by age into three groups: those aged 40 years or less (group A), those aged 41-60 years (group B), and those aged 61 years or more (group C). Mean total KIMTP and F-List scores were calculated. In addition, we also calculated mean scores of the two KIMTP TM factors 'harmony in personal relationships' (factor 1) and 'social norms' (factor 2)]. Differences in scores between men and women were analyzed by Student's t test. Differences in scores between the three age groups were evaluated by one-way analysis of variance and Scheffé's test. RESULTS: The KIMTP and F-List scores increased with age in both men and women. In the women, the KIMTP and F-List scores were significantly higher in groups B and C than in group A. In the women, the group C KIMTP factor 1 score was significantly higher than the group A KIMTP factor 1 score. The KIMTP and F-List scores tended to be higher for the women than for the men. Within groups B and C, the KIMTP and F-List scores and the KIMTP factor 1 score were significantly higher for the women than for the men. CONCLUSION: Overall, the sex and age distributions of scores for both questionnaires were similar to those obtained in previous studies in Japanese people. It is of note that our German subjects and previous Japanese subjects were not demographically controlled and, clearly, cultural backgrounds differed. Thus, KIMTP and the F-List may discriminate the TM personality with some degree of universality despite cultural differences and might be useful in cross-cultural comparisons of TM.