Battered or Schizophrenic? Psychological Tests Can't Tell (From Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse, 1988, P 200-216, Kersti Yllo and Michele Bograd, eds. -- See NCJ 142227)

• NCJ Number: 142236
• Author(s): L B Rosewater
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Four groups of white, black, and Hispanic battered women participated in a study designed to determine if a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profile existed for battered women: 50 battered women from Women Together (a battered women's shelter), 29 battered women from the Family Violence Program, 27 battered women from the Witness Victim Service Center, and 12 women not currently in abusive situations.

Abstract

The 3-point mean MMPI profile found for currently battered women indicates that battered women are angry, but this anger is retroflected and directed inward. These battered women were confused and overwhelmed by the violence in their lives. Two scales were particularly low for the currently battered women tested: scales that measure intactness, how strong an individual feels internally, ego strength, and how well an individual feels able to cope. The currently battered women did not score as typically passive. Formerly battered women tended to have similar configurations but lower elevations than the currently battered. The currently battered women had elevations on the scale that measures paranoia/fearfulness. 1 note, 1 table, and 34 references