A multiaxial assessment and personality evaluation was performed on a group of 70 people (65 men and 5 women) who were recently incarcerated in Málaga, Spain for having committed violent crimes, such as murder and sex-based violence. Analysis of scores on the MCMI indicated that there were chiefly two clearly differentiated personality profiles related to two personality disorders present in the group, the antisocial and the dependent personality disorder with compulsive traits. The “antisocial-psychotic group” presented a clear relation with clinical syndromes, specifically alcohol and drug abuse with delusional disorder, and they had committed a higher proportion of murders. On the Big Five Questionnaire, the “dependent-compulsive group” scored higher than average on Emotional Stability and Agreeableness, whereas the antisocial-psychotic group scored lower than average on Emotional Stability. These findings are in accord with those of Megargee, who concluded that violent criminals can be divided into two categories, the undercontrolled (antisocial) and the overcontrolled (dependent).
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychiatric Association. (2000) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. (4th ed., Rev.) Washington, DC: Author.
2.
BartolC. R. (1991) Criminal behavior: a psychosocial approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
3.
BlackburnR. (1986) Patterns of personality deviation among violent offenders: replication and extension of an empirical taxonomy. British Journal of Criminology, 11, 14–31.
4.
BlackburnR. (1993) The psychology of criminal conduct: theory, research and practice. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
5.
BlackwellB. S.PiqueroA. R. (2005) On the relationships between gender, power control, self-control, and crime. Journal of Criminal justice, 3, 1–17.
6.
CapraraG. V.BarbaranelliC.BorgogniL. (1993) [Big Five Questionnaire]. Florence, Italy: Oranizacíon Speciali. (Spanish adaptation by BermudezJ.Madrid, Spain: TEA, 1995)
7.
CollinsJ. J. (1988) Suggested explanatory frameworks to clarify the alcohol use-violence relationship. Contemporary Drug Problems, 15, 107–122.
8.
CostaP. T.Jr.McRaeR. R. (1990) Personality disorders and the Five Factor Model of personality. Journal of Personality Disorders, 4, 362–371.
9.
CrockerA. G.MueserK. T.DrakeR. E.ClarkR. E.McHugoG. J.AckersonT. H.AltermanA. (2005) Antisocial personality, psychopathy, and violence in persons with dual disorders. Criminal justice and Behavior, 32, 452–476.
10.
EricksonP. G.CheungY. W. (1992) Drug crime and legal control: lessons from the Canadian experience. Contemporary Drug Problems, 19, 247–277.
11.
EysenckH. J.GudjonssonG. H. (1989) The causes and cures of criminality. New York: Plenum.
12.
FeldmanR. S. (1993) Understanding psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
13.
HareR. D. (1993) Without conscience: the disturbing world of the psychopaths. New York: Guilford.
14.
HarrisonL. D. (1992) The drug-crime nexus in the USA. Contemporary Drug Problems, 19, 203–246.
15.
HollínC. R. (1989) Psychology and crime: an introduction to criminological psychology. London: Routledge.
16.
KlinterbergB.Von KnorringL. (2003) Impulsivity, an important personality trait in Type II alcoholism and early onset delinquent behavior. Poster presented at the 11th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, Graz, Austria.
17.
MaillouxD. L.ForthA. E.KronerD. G. (1997) Psychopathy and substance use in adolescent male offenders. Psychological Reports, 80, 529–530.
18.
MegargeeE. (1966) Undercontrolled and overcontrolled personality types in extreme antisocial aggression. Psychological Monographs, 80, No. 3 (Whole No. 61)
19.
MegargeeE. (1997) Internal inhibitions and controls. In HoganR.JohnsonJ. (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology. London: Oxford Univer. Press. Pp. 581–614.
20.
MegargeeE. (2002) Assessing the risk of aggression and violence. In ButcherJ. (Ed.), Clinical personality assessment: practical approaches. Vol. 2. London: Oxford Univer. Press. Pp. 435–451.
21.
MegargeeE.MercerS.CarbonellJ. (1999) MMPI-2 with male and female state and federal prison inmates. Psychological Assessment, 11, 177–185.
22.
MeierR. F. (1989) Crime and society, Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
23.
MillonT. (1987) MCM1-1I: Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II manual. Minneapolis, MN: National Computer Systems. (Spanish adaptation by A. Avila, Jiménez Gómez, & collaborators. Madrid, Spain: TEA, 1999)
24.
MillonT. (1996) The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III, manual. Minnetonka, MN: National Computer Systems.
25.
MillonT.DavisR. D. (1996) Personality disorders: DSM-IV and beyond. New York: Wiley Interscience. [Trastornos de personalidad: Más allá del DSM-IV]. (1998) Barcelona, Spain: Masson.
26.
MillonT.DavisR. (2000) Personality disorders in modern life. New York: Wiley. [Trastornos de la personalidad en la vida moderna. Barcelona, Spain: Masson, 2001]
27.
MoellerF. G.BarrattE. S.SteinbergJ. L.DoughertyD. M.FisherC. J.SwannA. C. (2003) Biological and behavioral evidence for an association between impulsivity and psychostimulant dependence. Paper presented at the 11th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, Graz, Austria.
28.
Ortiz-TalloM.BlancaM. J.CardenalV.SánchezL. M. (2003) A criminal disposition or just violent acts?Poster presented at the 11th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, Graz, Austria.
29.
Ortiz-TalloM.FierroA.BlancaM. J.CardenalV.SanchezL. M. (2006) Factores de personalidad y delitos violentos [Personaltiy factors and violent crimes]. Psicothema, 18, 458–463.
30.
RicaurteG. A.McCannU. D. (2002) Drugs abuse and violence. Paper presented at the VI International Meeting on Violence: Mind and Brain, Valencia, Spain.
31.
RosenbergM. F.AnthonyJ. C. (2001) Aggressive behavior and opportunities to purchase drugs. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 63, 245–252.
32.
UlrichS.MarnerosA. (2004) Dimensions of personality disorders in offenders. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 14, 202–213.
33.
ValliantP. M.GristeyC.PottierD.KosmynaR. (1999) Risk factors in violent and nonviolent offenders. Psychological Reports, 85, 675–680.
34.
ValliantP. M.De WitM.BowesR. (2004) Cognitive and personality factors associated with assaultive and domestic offenders. Psychological Reports, 94, 1180–1184.
