Corresponding Author Information: Isabella Campanini
Session Abstract: The current study aimed to expand the existing literature on sex offenders with regards to personality and psychological dysfunction, by comparing specific subgroups of sex offenders using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory- Second Edition- Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF). Archival data from a sample of N=244 adult male sex offenders was grouped based on four characteristic variables: offense type (contact vs. noncontact), relationship to the victim (familial vs. nonfamilial), victim age (younger vs. older), and the presence and absence of a personality disorder diagnosis or features. Additionally, data from a community comparison sample was compared to a subgroup of the sex offender sample previously determined to have within-normal-limits test profiles. MANOVA and ANOVA results demonstrated that contact offenders scored significantly higher than noncontact offenders on scales THD and BXD, but not on RC4, RC8, JCP, and DISC-r. Findings pertaining to intrafamilial and extrafamilial offenders were largely contrary to the hypotheses with regards to RC4, RC8, RC2, and RC7. Mean scores produced by sex offenders with younger- vs. older-aged victims significantly differed on 10 of the 17 hypothesized scales: EID, BXD, RCd, RC3, RC4, RC7, RC8, RC9, DISC-r, and NEGE-r; offenders with older-aged victims scored higher than those with younger-aged victims. Sex offenders with personality disorder diagnoses or features scored significantly higher than those without on 10 of the 40 scales included in the analyses: RC4, RC6, BXD, DISC-r, HLP, ANP, JCP, AGG, FML, and DSF. The within-normal-limits subgroup of sex offenders scored significantly higher on 31 of the 40 hypothesized scales. Implications, limitations, and future directions of these findings were discussed.
Presenters:
Isabella Campanini | Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL
Radhika Krishnamurthy | Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL