Group Personality Profile Related to Aspects of Antisocial Behavior

This study set out to obtain an objective personality description of a male, adult prison population. It was held that such a description might serve several purposes one of them being that of an index to the personality make-up of criminal offenders as a group. Such an index could, for example, be employed in the preliminary screening of potential offenders in a military induction center. That there was need of determining whether or not a discriminating personality description could be obtained is evidenced by the fact that there are those who seriously question that there are personality differences between offenders and nonoffenders. A review of the literature revealed that the one test which gave the most promise of giving an objective and discriminating personality description of offenders was the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. This test is composed of a number of scales or variables and the primary objective of this study was to determine if any of these variables correspond differentially to certain salient aspects of anti-social behavior. If they did, then the personality description might be said to contain indices of these aspects. Based on the findings of investigators in the field of criminal behavior the following four aspects or factors of criminal behavior were selected for study: 1. History of repeated criminal offenses. 2. Addiction to alcohol or narcotics.