NCJ Number
207562
Journal
Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health Volume: 14 Issue: 3 Dated: 2004 Pages: 202-213
Date Published
2004
Length
12 pages
Annotation
The current study examined the underlying dimensions of ICD-10 personality disorder in terms of their association with criminal behavior and in terms of comorbidity.
Abstract
The presence of personality disorders (PD’s) in criminal offender samples has been well-documented and PD’s are generally regarded as predictive of criminal behavior, especially anti-social PD. However, recent criticism of the categorical approach to diagnosing PD’s has led to the argument that PD’s should be diagnosed with a dimensional assessment in order to overcome the disadvantages of categories. These disadvantages include high rates of comorbidty, criteria overlap, and arbitrary thresholds. In the current study, a sample of 105 offenders recruited from courts and a random sample of 80 non-offenders completed a clinical structured interview and various personality assessment measures in order to test the hypothesis that underlying PD dimensions would match findings of previous research and that one type of PD would demonstrate traits similar to the personality construct of psychopathy. In addition to the personality measures, information about criminal history was gathered from court documents. Results of factor analysis and correlation analyses of dimensional PD scores revealed three underlying personality disorders that had identical structures in both the offender and non-offender samples. The first type was characterized by psychopathic personality traits consistent with hostile and aggressive violent offenders. The second type was characterized by social and hedonistic behaviors; this group began their criminal careers later in life. The third type was characterized by anxious and dependent personality disorders and experienced more criminal recidivism than the other types. However, self-report scores on the personality and criminal history components indicated different associations with the three PD dimensions. These differences may be explained by different constructs of personality disorders within the ICD-10. The findings show that psychopathic personalities can be identified using personality disorder dimensions that are already part of current diagnostic systems. References