NCJ Number
161889
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1996) Pages: 118-125
Date Published
1996
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study assessed predicted psychological differences between denying and admitting male sex offenders within the framework of Eysenck's theory on the personality of criminals.
Abstract
The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Gudjonsson's Compliance Questionnaire (CQ) were administered to consenting participants who were probationers in court-ordered group therapy at an outpatient clinic. Denying sex offenders were found to have relatively high tendencies to dissimulate on the EPQ and to present themselves as emotionally stable. On the CQ, deniers showed greater ability to withstand pressure from others than admitters. The results suggest that including the EPQ and CQ in a test battery designed to screen defensive sex offenders increases the validity of such psychological assessment in forensic and treatment settings. It is a weakness of this study that the EPQ norm used is the British one and ethnic differences between American and British populations may somewhat skew the comparison; however, cultural, historical, and linguistic similarities between these populations justify the use of the British norms. These ethnic concerns do not affect the within-group comparison of the sex offenders. Tables, references